Microsoft (MS) announced a large-scale investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in India and Canada. In particular, it will accelerate its push into the market in India by investing 26 trillion won—the largest single investment in the Asian market to date—to expand data centers and introduce a "sovereign cloud."
MS CEO Satya Nadella said on the 9th (local time) after meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi that the company will invest $17.5 billion (about 26 trillion won) in India's cloud and AI infrastructure over four years from 2026 to 2029.
This investment is the largest single-country investment by MS in Asia, and it will significantly expand data center capacity in major cities such as Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune, and hire an additional 22,000 local AI workers.
MS launched a sovereign cloud that securely stores government and corporations' data within the country to prevent it from being transferred abroad. The service also includes a project to integrate AI features into the Ministry of Labor's systems to improve the efficiency of job matching and enhance welfare programs.
MS also plans to invest 7.5 billion Canadian dollars (about 8 trillion won) over two years to expand cloud capacity in Canada. From 2023 to 2027, MS's cumulative investment in Canada is expected to reach 19.0 billion Canadian dollars (about 20 trillion won). MS will work with Canadian AI startup "Cohere" to offer Cohere's AI models on its Azure cloud platform.