'Excited about data centre capacity coming up in India': Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

New Delhi, Dec 10 (PTI) Microsoft's investment plan reflects India's progress in the era of technology, its CEO Satya Nadella said on Wednesday, a day after announcing a whopping USD 17.5 billion AI-driven investment in the country and discussing funding plans with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Microsoft's investment plan reflects India's progress in the era of technology, Nadella said, adding that he is excited about the data centre capacity the company is setting up in India.

Nadella has announced an investment of USD 17.5 billion by 2030 to help build infrastructure and sovereign capabilities for the country's AI-first future, marking the third major AI-driven investment in the country in the past two months.

The Microsoft CEO also said that he has discussed the company's investment plan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"We're thrilled about all the data centre capacity that is coming live. We already have stuff in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. We are very excited about our India South Central cloud region, based in Hyderabad, that's going to come up next year," Nadella said at a Microsoft event here.

Microsoft's India South Central cloud region, based in Hyderabad, is set to go live in mid-2026.

"We are really excited about the investment we made. I had a chance to meet Prime Minister Modi yesterday (Tuesday) and discussed our excitement about it (investments)," Nadella said.

"I've come to India in each of the eras. Right, from the PC to client server to the web internet to the cloud mobile. There is no difference in terms of the rate of diffusion of technology when it comes to the AI era. And so the question now, of course, is how are we going to, in this country, take advantage of all of this to really change the outcomes for both the citizens and the organizations throughout the length and breadth," Nadella said.

He said that according to people who have studied historical technological waves, it is not the countries, companies, communities that created technology that got ahead but it was people who adopted the leading technology to create more leading technologies leapfrogged. "If you even had leading tech in the country, but you just talked about it, or just consumed it, but didn't use it to create other leading tech, you then further fall behind," Nadella said.

He said that India has uniquely brought together a virtuous cycle from the policies, the programs, the technology stack, and the Indian market.

"It's the private sector participating fully. Whether it's in payments, whether it's in health care, whether it's in insurance, it's tremendous to see that that virtuous cycle is not about any one thing," Nadella said.

As the country gears up to implement the Digital Personal Data Protection regime, Microsoft has introduced sovereign public cloud and sovereign private cloud for Indian customers.

Nadella said resilient and sovereign technologies are important for India but that decision should be taken strategically keeping in mind issues like cyber security.

“I'll say a requirement, which is for a country like India to say that ultimately, things that are deployed here, used here, at scale are effectively resilient and sovereign. In other words, you want to control your own destiny,” Nadella said.

He said that if an entity has sovereign cloud infrastructure but a threat actor, or cyber attack, takes place then it can be a problem.

“When you're doing that risk assessment, it turns out sometimes being in the public cloud is the most secure, resilient thing,” Nadella said. PTI