Microsoft and Amazon Invest Billions in India

Big Tech Investments in India Signal a Major Shift

India is rapidly becoming a focal point for global technology giants, with major companies like Amazon and Microsoft making substantial investments. These commitments are not just financial but also strategic, as they aim to position India as a key player in the artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing sectors.

Big Tech is doubling down on India, with new pledges from Amazon.com and Microsoft set to pour over $50 billion into the South Asian country. This surge of investment highlights India's growing appeal as an AI and cloud hub, drawing tens of billions of dollars from major technology companies this year.

Dan Ives, global head of tech research at Wedbush Securities, remarked that “India is becoming a hotbed for tech investments and planting the flag pole.” He noted that these big bets on India by Big Tech speak to the AI revolution coming to India over the coming years.

Amazon recently announced that it will sink $35 billion across its businesses in India over a five-year period. This comes after Microsoft announced a $17.5 billion spending plan in the country over the next four years. The investments highlight the confidence these companies have in India's potential and its role in the future of AI and cloud infrastructure.

Microsoft emphasized that its new investment is focused on developing India’s cloud and AI infrastructure. It marks the company’s biggest investment yet in Asia. This commitment builds on $3 billion that Microsoft said it would spend in India earlier this year. The company's CEO, Satya Nadella, met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, underscoring the importance of the relationship between the two nations.

Modi also met with other tech leaders, including the CEOs of Intel and Cognizant. Intel’s chief executive, Lip-Bu Tan, shared that he and Modi had “a wide-ranging discussion on a variety of topics related to technology, computing and the tremendous potential for India.” Intel is committed to supporting India’s semiconductor mission, which was established earlier this year with an initial investment of around $10 billion. The initiative aims to reduce dependence on imported chips and establish a self-reliant manufacturing ecosystem.

As AI becomes increasingly important for economic and national security, many governments have grown concerned about being reliant on countries like China and the U.S. for technology. This has spurred a push among several countries in Asia to develop their own AI and chip capacity.

Intel’s Tan mentioned that the company is looking forward to bolstering India’s “silicon and compute ecosystem” after announcing a strategic alliance with the Tata Group conglomerate focused on chip manufacturing. This partnership is expected to play a significant role in strengthening India's technological capabilities.

Cognizant also highlighted its discussions with Prime Minister Modi. Its CEO, Ravi Kumar S, discussed accelerating AI adoption and advancing education and skill development in India. The company reaffirmed its continued commitment to India and shared plans to expand into emerging cities.

Microsoft plans to have the largest cloud-computing presence in the country, with a new data center due to come online in mid-2026. The scale of capital expenditure Microsoft has planned gives it a first-mover advantage in “GPU-rich data centers,” according to Tarun Pathak, director at Counterpoint Research. These data centers rely on graphics-processing units, which are essential for AI applications.

Amazon's latest investment will focus on business expansion, AI capabilities, export growth, and job creation. The e-commerce giant had previously said it would invest an additional $15 billion in India by 2030. So far, it has plowed about $40 billion into the country.

Earlier this year, Google outlined a roughly $15 billion investment strategy in India over the next five years. It also formed a tie-up with venture-capital firm Accel—an early investor in Facebook, Slack, and Dropbox—to funnel millions into promising AI startups in the South Asian country.

Hyperscalers—large-scale cloud service providers—are “eyeing the [Indian] market to build scale, de-risk their supply chains and take advantage of the vast talent pool in terms of AI developers,” said Pathak at Counterpoint Research. “We expect things to continue evolving rapidly over the next 3-4 years.”

These developments underscore the significance of India in the global tech landscape and the potential for continued growth and innovation in the region.