Microsoft’s biggest data centre in India is on track to go live by mid-2026. The facility, located in Hyderabad, is part of the company’s $17.5 billion investment commitment in India announced late last year, on top of a separate $3 billion pledged earlier in 2025.
Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India and South Asia, told Reuters there is strong demand for Azure cloud services and the $30-a-month Copilot 365 AI assistant in the country. He described the Hyderabad facility as Microsoft’s largest in India but did not disclose capacity figures.
Among Microsoft’s Copilot customers in India are Infosys, Cognizant, and Tata Consultancy Services, each holding around 50,000 licenses.
Chandok said India-based teams are also contributing to AI features being rolled out globally. Microsoft employs over 22,000 people across the country. He flagged tightening competition for AI talent as a growing constraint, describing it as a “war for talent” that mirrors conditions elsewhere in the world.
The investment is part of a broader push by Microsoft to demonstrate returns on its AI spending to investors. Rivals Alphabet and Amazon are making similar moves in India, drawn by its more than one billion internet users and large technology workforce.
