Overview
- Microsoft confirmed the $17.5 billion commitment for CY2026–2029, calling it its largest investment in Asia.
- The company framed the initiative around three pillars—scale, skills, and sovereignty—aligned with India’s AI roadmap.
- A new India South Central cloud region in Hyderabad, with three availability zones, is scheduled to go live in mid‑2026.
- Microsoft announced a partnership to bring Azure OpenAI features to the e‑Shram portal and National Career Service for multilingual access and AI‑assisted job matching.
- The pledge builds on a $3 billion plan unveiled in January 2025 that Microsoft expects to complete by end‑2026, while India has yet to publish operational implementation details.