Microsoft chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella, on stage at the Microsoft AI Tour in Bengaluru where he announced US $3 billion investment in India for cloud and AI infrastructure over the next two years.
Microsoft shared a comprehensive plan to train and skill 10 million people by 2030, reinforcing its commitment to partnering with India on its journey to become an AI-first nation.
Microsoft Research Lab launched an AI Innovation Network, a groundbreaking initiative designed to accelerate the transition from research to real, usable business solutions.
Furthermore, Microsoft and SaaSBoomi have joined hands to propel India’s AI and SaaS ecosystem towards a trillion-dollar economy, aiming to impact over 5,000 startups and 10,000 entrepreneurs.
India – January 7, 2025 – During his visit to India, Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella today announced the company’s plans to invest US $3 billion in India in cloud and AI infrastructure and skilling over the next two years, including the establishment of new datacenters. This investment aims to accelerate AI innovation in India, which is pivotal for achieving Hon’ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of becoming a developed nation (Viksit Bharat) by 2047. Microsoft will also support the country’s long-term competitiveness by training 10 million people over the next five years with AI skills, as part of the second edition of its ADVANTA(I)GE India program.
Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft said, “India is rapidly becoming a leader in AI innovation, unlocking new opportunity across the country. The investments in infrastructure and skilling we are announcing today reaffirm our commitment to making India AI-first, and will help ensure people and organizations across the country benefit broadly.”
Puneet Chandok, president, Microsoft India and South Asia said, “In the last 12 months Microsoft has been a copilot to making AI a reality in India, taking it from boardrooms to classrooms, commerce to communities, and finance to farmers. Today’s announcement strengthens our belief in India’s potential and our resolve to equip the country with the resources and future-ready skills needed to excel in the global marketplace. We will continue to use AI to unlock possibilities for the next few decades and ensure communities across the country have access to the compute they need to prosper in the AI era.”
Making India AI-first and advancing AI responsibly
Microsoft’s approach to responsible AI is grounded in six core principles: fairness, reliability and safety, privacy and security, inclusiveness, transparency, and accountability. This investment reflects Microsoft’s expanding role and responsibility as a leader in AI. Microsoft is working to expand broad access to its AI technology that empowers organizations and individuals to develop and use AI in ways that will serve the public good. Microsoft will operate its AI services and infrastructure under Microsoft’s AI Access Principles and in accordance with industry-leading responsible AI principles.
Microsoft will expand its cloud and AI infrastructure across datacenter campuses in the country. Microsoft already has three datacenter regions in the market, and the fourth ready to go live in 2026. This investment aims to develop a scalable AI computing ecosystem to meet the growing demands of India’s rapidly expanding AI start-ups and research community.
Microsoft chairman and CEO, Satya Nadella, on stage at the Microsoft AI Tour in Bengaluru where he announced Microsoft will equip 10 million people in India with cloud and AI skills by 2030.
ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA: Equipping 10 million Indians with essential AI skills by 2030
As the nature of jobs evolves, AI is becoming an essential skill for professionals. Indian professionals are leading the way in learning and skill-building on LinkedIn, spending nearly 50% more time on learning per week than the average professional. They have been early adopters of AI, with a 122% year-over-year increase in Indian members adding AI skills to their profiles, compared to 71% globally.
In 2024, Microsoft launched the ADVANTA(I)GE India initiative with the ambitious goal of training two million people in AI skills by 2025. Demonstrating its commitment to enable equitable AI opportunity for every Indian, Microsoft has surpassed this target ahead of schedule with 2.4 million individuals trained in under a year. Notably, 65% of the participants were women, and 74% came from tier II and tier III cities, ensuring inclusive coverage across the entire country.
Today, the company announced its next milestone, to equip 10 million more Indians with essential AI skills by 2030. ADVANTA(I)GE INDIA is part of Microsoft’s Global Skills for Social Impact charter, and these trainings will be delivered in partnership with the government, nonprofit and corporate organizations, and communities.
Shri Jayant Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship said, “India’s vibrant youth and tech talent are key to shaping the future of AI. Through the ‘AI for India’ mission, we aim to empower citizens with cutting-edge AI skills, driving innovation, creating jobs, and bridging the digital divide. Collaborations with global leaders like Microsoft and similar companies are pivotal in this transformation. By equipping our workforce, especially women and youth, with advanced skills, we are building an AI-ready India, poised for digital leadership and sustainable economic growth.”
Fostering the AI Ecosystem in India for developers, startups and digital natives
Microsoft Research (MSR) Lab today announced an AI Innovation Network to deepen its commitment to cultivate the AI ecosystem in India. Under the AI Innovation Network, MSR will build new collaborations, especially with digital natives, to accelerate the transition from research to real, usable business solutions.
MSR India has already initiated a collaboration with Physics Wallah on math reasoning and is in ongoing discussions with other Digital Natives on topics such as causal inference, optimizing Indic LLMs, prompt optimization, and reinforcement learning.
Prateek Maheshwari, co-founder, Physics Wallah said, “At Physics Wallah, we’ve always believed in the power of technology to transform education. Our collaboration with Microsoft Research is a step towards creating tools that understand and support each student’s learning journey. By combining our expertise with Microsoft’s advancements in AI and Large Language Models, we’re working to make education more accessible, personalized, and impactful. We’re working together to help and empower students in meaningful ways.”
MSR India has had a long history of both incubating startups (e.g. Digital Green in AI for agriculture and Everwell in healthcare) and open sourcing research technologies that have then been picked up by startups (e.g. Remidio in medical diagnostics and SoftX Technologies in transportation informatics). The new AI Innovation Network will help accelerate this through mutually beneficial engagement and research collaboration with select Digital Natives. These Digital Natives will gain access to MSR’s cutting-edge research and expertise, while MSR will have the opportunity to deploy its research technologies at scale in partnership with these innovative companies.
Microsoft also announced an AI MoU with SaaSBoomi, the premier community for B2B startups in India. This strategic collaboration aims to accelerate the growth of India’s AI and SaaS ecosystem, making India a product nation and contributing to its trillion-dollar economy. By leveraging SaaSBoomi’s extensive network and Microsoft’s technological expertise, the partnership seeks to foster innovation and entrepreneurship, especially in tier II cities. Over the next five years, Microsoft and SaaSBoomi aim to impact over 5,000 startups and over 10,000 entrepreneurs, upskill more than 150,000 startup employees through focused workshops, foster regional development in 20+ tier II cities, create over 200,000 new job opportunities, and help attract an additional US $1.5 billion in venture capital funding for the Indian AI and SaaS ecosystem. Under the MoU, Microsoft will also support the emergence of more than 50 unicorns and soonicorns; driving advancements in innovation, sustainability, and technological infrastructure.
Supporting communities and advancing AI sustainably
Microsoft is also deeply invested in advancing the sustainability of AI and is addressing the resources needed to support responsible growth of AI infrastructure. Microsoft continues to take bold action on the path to be carbon negative, water positive, zero waste, and protect more land than it uses by 2030, all while empowering others with the technology needed to build a more sustainable future. Learn more in Microsoft’s 2024 Sustainability Report.
Microsoft contributes positively to local communities while advancing global digital transformation. These efforts reinforce its global Datacenter Community Pledge that recognizes its responsibility to be a good neighbor in India and elsewhere where Microsoft operates. For datacenters, this includes addressing the resources needed to power AI – mainly energy and water.
The company also recently announced that its new datacenters will consume zero water for cooling. The new design does not rely on water evaporation, recycling water through a continuous closed-loop system. Microsoft has also secured renewable energy in India through long-term contracts with Ample and ReNewcontributing to Microsoft’s ambition to be carbon-negative by 2030. As part of the agreement with ReNew, approximately US $15 million of revenue from the contract will be directed towards a community fund to support environmental justice initiatives focusing on women’s livelihoods and economic empowerment, energy access, rural electrification, environmental remediation and water quality improvement, and other concerns of communities disproportionately impacted by pollution and climate change.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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