Microsoft has announced plans to invest $3 billion in expanding its artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud Azure services in India, with the goal of upskilling an additional 10 million people in the country. The investment, revealed by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on Tuesday, reaffirms the company's commitment to making India an "AI-first" nation.

The software giant, which operates three datacenter regions in India, plans to make its fourth region ready to go live next year. The $3 billion investment will be deployed to develop a scalable AI computing ecosystem, serving India's AI startups and research community. This move is expected to further solidify Microsoft's position as one of the top cloud and AI providers in India.

As part of its efforts to promote entrepreneurship in smaller Indian cities and towns, Microsoft has signed an AI memorandum of understanding with SaaSBoomi, a community for B2B startups in India. The collaboration aims to attract an additional $1.5 billion in venture capital funding for Indian AI and SaaS startups.

India has emerged as a key overseas market for American tech giants, with companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and others pouring tens of billions of dollars into building and scaling their operations in the country over the past two decades. The competition has intensified among hyperscalers in recent quarters, with Microsoft aggressively broadening its AI offerings.

In fact, Amazon announced plans to invest $12.7 billion in its India business by 2030. Microsoft, however, is already seeing many of its clients in the South Asian market use its newest technologies to bring efficiencies to their businesses. Some of its clients in India include Infosys, Air India, Meesho, Tech Mahindra, Federal Bank, Apollo, MakeMyTrip, HCL Tech, Manipal, Icertis, and InMobi.

IT firm Persistent, for instance, is using Microsoft 365 Copilot's "Contract Assist" to reduce negotiation time by 70%, Nadella said. India is also one of the world's largest markets for developers, with more than 17 million of them in India using Microsoft's Github. Nadella said the company will train 10 million people in India by 2030.

The Indian government has also welcomed Microsoft's investment plans, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeting about his meeting with Nadella, expressing delight at the company's ambitious expansion and investment plans in India.

Microsoft's investment in India's AI and cloud infrastructure is expected to have far-reaching implications for the country's tech ecosystem, supporting the growth of AI startups and research initiatives. As the competition among hyperscalers continues to intensify, Microsoft's move is likely to further solidify its position as a leading player in the Indian market.

This is a developing story, and more information will be provided as it becomes available.