Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella met Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday evening and committed the United States-based software giant's largest ever Asia investment – over US$ 17.5 billion, or Rs 1.5 lakh crore – towards developing Artificial Intelligence-capabilities.
"Thank you PM Narendra Modiji for an inspiring conversation on India's AI opportunity. To support the country's ambitions, Microsoft is committing US$ 17.5 billion – our largest investment ever in Asia – to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India's AI-first future," he said.
The Prime Minister responded, "When it comes to AI, the world is optimistic about India!"
"Had a very productive discussion with Satya Nadella. Happy to see India being the place where Microsoft will make its largest-ever investment in Asia. The youth of India will harness this opportunity to innovate and leverage the power of AI for a better planet."
In a press statement released shortly after the two leaders met, Microsoft said the US$ 17.5 billion it will invest in India follows an earlier investment of US$ 3 billion – towards establishing cloud and AI infrastructure in Bengaluru over the next two years, which includes upskilling and new data centres – and will ensure the company has "the largest hyperscale presence in India".
"India stands at a pivotal moment in its AI journey… one defined by impact at scale, determined to lead. As technology becomes a catalyst for inclusive growth and economic transformation, the country is emerging as a frontier AI nation. Against this backdrop… today we are announcing our largest investment in Asia - US$17.5 billion over four years…" the company statement said.
Microsoft's nearly US$20 billion investment across four years underlines India's position as an uber-valuable market for global software behemoths racing to build digital infrastructure.
In October Google boss Sundar Pichai said he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and shared the US tech giant's plans for its artificial intelligence hub in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam, the US company's biggest ever investment in the country.
Google partnered with the Adani Group for a data centre and AI base in Visakhapatnam, its largest hub outside the US, and said it has plan to invest $15 billion over the next five years.
Amazon has also invested billions into building data centres in India, while the Prime Minister met chip-maker Qualcomm's CEO, Cristiano R Amon, in October to discussed India's advancements in AI, innovation, and skilling.
Last month, while addressing a conference in Delhi, the Prime Minister highlighted India's role in shaping a global framework for what AI should be and how it should function. He spoke about “ethical and human-centric AI,” and said his government is already working towards a policy on this topic.
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