Amazon, Microsoft pledge mega AI investments in India

Microsoft's Satya Nadella (left) and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (right) are bullish on India

In October, Google announced a $15bn investment to build an AI data hub, and earlier this week Intel announced a collaboration with Mumbai-based Tata Electronics as its first major customer in the latter's $14bn semiconductor manufacturing plans.

India, which is an emerging AI and cloud infrastructure hub, has witnessed a surge of global tech investments recently.

Amazon said on Wednesday it was pumping in $35bn into India by 2030 to advance AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation, a day after Microsoft committed $17.5bn strengthen the country's AI ecosystem.

Tech giants Amazon and Microsoft have announced a combined $52.5bn (£39.4bn) investment plan for India over the coming years.

"When it comes to AI, 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 $35bn investment will build on the $40bn already invested in India - establishing the company as "the largest foreign investor" in India, the company said in a statement.

A key component of it will go into local cloud and AI infrastructure.

Microsoft's fresh commitment follows a $3bn investment announced by the company earlier this year.

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