Microsoft's biggest India data center on track to go live in mid-2026, executive says

Key points

• Microsoft's biggest data center in India is on track to open by mid-2026, its country head said on Tuesday, as the tech giant spends heavily to bolster its position in one of the world's largest markets for artificial intelligence services.
• There's "massive demand" for Azure cloud services and the $30-a-month Copilot 365 AI assistant in the country, Puneet Chandok, president, Microsoft India and South Asia, told Reuters.
• Like rivals Alphabet and Amazon, Microsoft sees India as a potentially profitable market for AI thanks to its more than 1 billion internet users and deep tech talent.
• Tapping that market is crucial as it looks to prove to investors that its massive bet on AI will pay off.
• The company announced late last year that it would invest $17.5 billion in India, its biggest outlay in Asia, on top of the $3 billion pledged at the start of 2025. That includes a...