After Google, Microsoft too has announced a big investment in India towards AI.
Microsoft has said it’ll invest $17.5 billion (Rs. 1.57 lakh crore) towards its AI efforts in India. This is the company’s largest-ever investment in Asia.
“Thank you Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, for an inspiring conversation on India’s AI opportunity,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted on X. “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,” he added.
Microsoft’s investment follows Google’s big datacenter investment in India. Earlier this year, Google announced a $15 billion investment over five years (2026-2030) to build its first AI hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, marking its largest commitment in India and the biggest AI facility outside the US. This gigawatt-scale data center will include AI infrastructure, renewable energy, expanded fiber-optic networks, and a new international subsea gateway.
Other AI companies too have been eyeing the Indian market. It had earlier been reported that OpenAI was planning to set up a 1GW datacenter in India. The company had also set up an office in New Delhi, and had begun hiring for roles in New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. Anthropic too had set up an India office in Bengaluru this year.
AI companies have also been looking to woo Indian users in other ways. ChatGPT had introduced its Go plan first in India. Meanwhile, Perplexity had tied up with Airtel to give its Pro plan to all Airtel subscribers for free, while Google had similarly tied up with Jio to give its Pro plans to its users. Google had also announced free use of its Pro plans to Indian students for a year.