Microsoft, a Redmond-based tech giant, has committed a whopping $17.5 billion, the largest investment ever in Asia, to help build the infrastructure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI-first future.
This was announced by the company CEO Satya Nadella on X platform, just after his meeting with Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, at PM’s office in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Mr. Nadella posted: “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.”
Commenting on the meeting, the Prime Minister said he had a “productive discussion’’ with Mr. Nadella and “India’s youth would harness the opportunity to innovate and leverage the power of AI for a better planet’’.
India stood at a pivotal moment in its AI journey, one defined by impact at scale, determined to lead, Microsoft said in its own news post online. “As technology becomes a catalyst for inclusive growth and economic transformation, the country (India) is emerging as a frontier AI nation. Against this backdrop of bold ambition and accelerating innovation, today we are announcing our largest investment in Asia- $17.5 billion over four years (CY 2026 to 2029)- to advance the country’s cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, skilling and ongoing operations.’’ the post said.
In the meeting, both leaders discussed the country’s AI roadmap and growth priorities. Microsoft’s investment in India focuses on three pillars—scale, skills and sovereignty—aligned with the Prime Minister’s vision of building a comprehensive ecosystem that drives AI innovation and access at a national scale, according to Microsoft communication.
Speaking on the occasion, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology said, as AI reshaped the digital economy, India remained committed to innovation anchored in trust and sovereignty. “Microsoft’s landmark investment signals India’s rise as a reliable technology partner for the world. This partnership will set new benchmarks and drive the country’s leap from digital public infrastructure to AI public infrastructure,’’ he added.
Microsoft in a separate media statement said, “It comes on top of Microsoft’s earlier commitment of $3 billion announced in January 2025. This is the company’s largest investment in Asia. It will go towards accelerating India’s AI and cloud infrastructure, skilling and ongoing operations.’’
The tech firm also said the company was doubling its skilling commitment from January 2025, empowering 20 million people by 2030. It also said it would have the largest hyperscale presence in India with its new datacentre going live mid-2026.
Microsoft further said, India’s 310 million informal workers would benefit from its AI’s integration into e-Shram and National Career Service (NCS) platforms. Further, the company is introducing Sovereign Public Cloud and Sovereign Private Cloud to empower Indian organisations to architect secure, compliant environments for the AI era, it said
PM on Tuesday also met Lip-Bu Tan, CEO, Intel Corp, which signed an MoU with Tata Group to have its products packaged and fabricated at its upcoming semiconductor unit. “India welcomes Intel’s commitment to our semiconductor journey.’’ Mr. Modi posted on X.
Mr. Another global tech leader Mr. Modi met Ravi Kumar S. Cognizant CEO, who had a conversation on “accelerating AI adoption and advancing education and skill development to enhance AI capabilities and productivity,’’ the New Jersey-based firm said.
Microsoft’s India journey
Microsoft officially started its India operations in 1990, when India was nowhere in the global tech map, by opening an office in Hyderabad. Today, all operations of Microsoft across research and development (R&D), sales, support operations, have a deeply integrated presence in the country. Market observers say, India is the largest geography outside its home market. The Microsoft India Development Center (IDC) in Hyderabad is the company’s largest software development center outside its Redmond headquarters. This center and similar centres in Bengaluru and Noida work on strategic and intellectual property-sensitive software products and services, contributing to global products like Azure, Office, and Windows. It also offers cloud and AI infrastructure services from Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune.
Published – December 09, 2025 09:17 pm IST
