American tech giant Microsoft has announced an investment worth $17.5B.
The announcement was made by CEO Satya Nadella on X platform, just after his meeting with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi earlier this week.
The commitment, which spans from 2026 to 2029, marks Microsoft’s largest-ever investment in Asia and places India as at the forefront for AI innovation, data sovereignty, and digital scale.
“Thank you, PM @narendramodi ji, for an inspiring conversation on India’s AI opportunity. To support the country’s ambitions, Microsoft is committing US$17.5B, our largest investment ever in Asia, to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI-first future.” Nadella wrote on his X platform.
The investment will be channelled to key areas such as data centres, training and digital sovereignty.
On impacting skills, it’s expected that over 20 million people will be trained in various AI skills by 2030.
India becomes a key target of Microsft’s investment owing to factors such as positioning and market readiness.
With internet penetration hovering around 60-70% and an estimated 950 million+ internet users, India is the world’s largest open data market.
The southern Asia giant is a mobile-first economy with nearly 1.2 billion mobile phone connections, and access to affordable 4G and 5G data fueling a consumption boom. For AI to be effective, it needs data to learn from; India’s mobile-first population generates this at an unprecedented rate.
As home to a large network of developoers and innovators, India’s talent pool makes it attractive for investment by big tech players such as Microsoft corporation.
This year, India has attracted other players including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Perplexity, with all companies setting shop or striking partnerships with local players.
The Indian government has been aggressively pushing to attract more big tech companies to leverage on available opportunities for the future.