Microsoft to spend $23bn on AI, prioritising India

Microsoft announced a $23 billion plan to expand its artificial intelligence footprint, directing the largest share to India over the next four years. Chief Executive Satya Nadella said the outlay will fund major cloud and AI infrastructure and a workforce skilling drive, positioning the company for the country’s rapid digital growth.

The package includes $17.5 billion in India beginning in 2026, with a new Hyderabad data centre billed as the company’s largest hyperscale region in the country. Microsoft also doubled its promise to equip 20 million Indians with AI skills by 2030.

The push comes as global tech firms race to build compute capacity for AI services. Microsoft said the investment would strengthen sovereign capabilities and broaden local access to Azure, even as wider industry spending has stirred debate about valuations and an emerging “AI bubble.”

Separately, Microsoft outlined more than C$7.5 billion ($5.4bn) in fresh Canada investments over two years to expand cloud capacity and partnerships, including with Cohere. The company is simultaneously growing data centre capacity in multiple markets to support products like Copilot and other generative AI tools.