Microsoft Launches Fourth Cloud Region in India, Expands AI Infrastructure Push
New Delhi — Microsoft has launched its fourth cloud region in India, located in Hyderabad, expanding its cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure footprint as the country prepares for significant growth in data center capacity and enterprise AI adoption.
The new India South Central cloud region joins Microsoft’s existing regions in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai, giving the company its largest hyperscale cloud infrastructure presence in India.
The launch is part of Microsoft’s previously announced $20.5 billion investment commitment in the country, aimed at expanding cloud capabilities, AI infrastructure, workforce skilling and operations.
Speaking at the launch, Microsoft India and South Asia President Puneet Chandok said India is at a pivotal point in its digital transformation, with the country emerging as one of the world’s largest generators of data.
According to Chandok, India generates nearly 20 percent of the world’s data but accounts for only about 3 percent of global data center capacity.
“20 per cent of the world’s data is being generated by India, but only 3 per cent of the world’s data centre capacity sits in our country,” Chandok said.
“Between these two numbers sits the largest opportunity of the decade for India,” he added.
India currently has about 2 gigawatts of data center capacity, a figure Chandok expects to rise to between 12 GW and 14 GW by 2035.
He said the expansion will be necessary as businesses, government departments and institutions move beyond experimenting with AI and begin deploying AI applications at scale.
Chandok said demand for AI services is already strong, with the main challenge now being the construction of enough infrastructure to support future growth.
“The digital scale that we are building requires physical scale, and that is the national imperative for all of us,” he said. (Source: IANS)
