Microsoft has backed India’s AI mission by pledging to invest $3bn into the country’s artificial intelligence and cloud services.

The news was confirmed by the tech giant’s CEO, Satya Nadella, who also announced that it will train an additional 10 million people in the country with AI, while at an event in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

The company already operates three data centre regions in the country and the latest investment will be used to establish a fourth by next year and also deliver scalable AI computing ecosystems to serve India’s AI startups and research community. 

Nadella commented: “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.”

A day after announcing its investment plans, Microsoft revealed it has also committed to further the Indian Ministry of Electronics and IT’s IndiaAI Mission by supporting data collection and synthetic generation, as well as training 500,000 people in AI technologies by 2026.

In addition, the pair will also establish an AI Centre of Excellence, called AI Catalysts, and set up AI labs in 20 national skill training institutes. 

As well as the Indian government, Microsoft has partnered with a slew of organisations including RailTel, Apollo Hospitals, Bajaj Finserv, Mahindra Group and upGrad to accelerate AI-driven transformations.

Speaking to the Hindu Business Line, Puneet Chandok, Microsoft’s President for India and South Asia, said: “[This] is an incredible opportunity for us to work with the government and make the AI Mission a reality… it’s building the tech, getting the demand going and building the human talent, which is where our focus is.”

India has become a key area of focus for tech giants such as Microsoft and Amazon, the latter of which said in 2023 that it planned to invest over $12bn into its India business by 2023.

Meanwhile, more recently, AI developer Nvidia embarked on a series of deals with Indian firms, such as India’s most valuable company Reliance and Tech Mahindra, to supply its AI chips and technology.