Tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have announced a combined $52.5bn (£39.4bn) investment plan for India over the coming years.
Amazon said on Wednesday it will invest $35 billion in India by 2030 to promote artificial intelligence-led digitalization, export growth and job creation, a day after Microsoft pledged $17.5 billion to strengthen the country's artificial intelligence ecosystem.
India, which is an emerging hub of artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure, has witnessed a surge in global technology investment in recent times.
In October Google announced a $15 billion investment to build an artificial intelligence data center, and earlier this week Intel announced a partnership with Mumbai-based Tata Electronics as its first major customer in the latter's $14 billion semiconductor manufacturing plans.
“When it comes to artificial intelligence, the world is optimistic about India,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X after meeting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday.
Amazon's $35 billion investment will build on the $40 billion it has already invested in India, making it the “largest foreign investor” in India, the company said in a statement.
A key component of this project will be on-premises cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Microsoft's new commitment follows a $3 billion investment the company announced earlier this year.
It includes a new “hyperscale cloud region” – a cluster of data centers – in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, which will be operational in mid-2026, the company said in a statement.
Data centers are centralized physical facilities that house computer servers, IT infrastructure and networking equipment, and are a key component of the AI value chain that India is focusing on despite concerns over water shortages.
India will also be given access to Microsoft's “sovereign public cloud”, which offers tools to help organizations run their data and applications while keeping sensitive information within the country.
The investment in India is part of Microsoft's $23 billion artificial intelligence expansion in countries such as Canada, Portugal and the UAE as it competes with rivals such as Amazon and Google.
Microsoft said in a statement that it is also committed to integrating artificial intelligence into government platforms in India, supporting about 310 million informal workers.
The announcements come as India ramps up its semiconductor manufacturing efforts with several government-backed and private projects aimed at building a domestic chip manufacturing industry.
While India is a major market for artificial intelligence (with a billion internet users and a large pool of tech talent), it still lags behind global leaders such as China and the US.
Still, the country is attracting billions in investment in key computing technologies such as chips, and the government's semiconductor mission offers generous subsidies to firms setting up chip-making capabilities.
India's sovereign AI model is also expected to be unveiled in February next year.
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