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www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know 12 BUSINESS December 12, 2025 Microsoft Unveils $23 Billion In New AI Investments With Big Focus On India M icrosoft on Tuesday unveiled $23 billion in new artificial intelligence investments, with the bulk earmarked for India as the U.S. tech giant deep- ens its bet on one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. CEO Satya Nadella said Microsoft would spend $17.5 billion in India in its largest investment in Asia, building on a $3 billion commitment announced earlier this year. The four-year spending plan starts in 2026 and would give Microsoft the largest cloud-computing presence in India. With around a billion internet users and deep tech talent, India has become a key destination for U.S. tech giants, which are investing billions of dollars to build AI infrastructure. Data centers are seen as the South Asian country’s best shot at breaking into the boom, given that it has limited chip-manufacturing capabilities. Google said in October it would invest $15 billion over five years to build an AI data center in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, its biggest commitment in the world’s most populous nation. The Microsoft spending will “help build the infra- structure, skills, and sovereign capabilities needed for India’s AI first future,” Nadella said in a post on X, sharing a photo of himself with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Nadella is in the country for a three-day trip for the company’s AI conferences, with events in the capital New Delhi, IT hub Bengaluru and financial center Mumbai startingWednesday. The investments – the latest big-ticket outlay by tech- nology companies in the high-stakes AI race – come amid a diplomatic standoff between New Delhi andWashing- ton over tariffs and a stalled trade deal. CANADA INVESTMENT PLANS Microsoft said earlier in the day it would invest more than C$7.5 billion ($5.42 billion) in Canada over the next two years, with new cloud capacity under the investment slated to come online in the second half of 2026. The move was part of its total planned Canada spending of C$19 billion between 2023 and 2027. That would help the company expand its Azure Local cloud offering in the country, and Microsoft is also part- nering with Canadian AI startup Cohere to offer the firm’s advanced AI models on its Azure platform. TheWindows maker and other big U.S. cloud provid- ers are expected to spend more than $400 billion on AI this year to build out data centers needed to support services such as ChatGPT, Copilot and Gemini. But that growing spending, limited evidence of real- world AI productivity gains, soaring valuations and a web of circular investments have stoked fears of an AI bubble. DATA CENTER EXPANSION, MORE SKILLING INITIATIVES Microsoft said a new data center in Hyderabad would be its largest hyperscale region in India and is expected to go live in mid-2026. It will also expand its three exist- ing regions in Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune, and has doubled a January pledge to equip 20 million Indians with essential AI skills by 2030. Total data center capacity in India is expected to more than triple to about 4.5 gigawatts by 2030, according to real estate consultancy Colliers. One gigawatt of comput- ing power is roughly enough to power about 750,000 U.S. homes. Microsoft employs more than 22,000 people in India and about 5,300 in Canada. It announced plans to invest $10 billion in AI infra- structure in Portugal as well as $15 billion in the United Arab Emirates last month. -Reuters By Aditya Soni, Deborah Mary Sophia and Nishit Navin PHOTO:REUTERS/GONZALO FUENTES/FILE PHOTO Reliance-Disney’s JioHotstar To Invest $444 Million In South Indian Content, Executive Says I ndia’s JioHotstar plans to invest $444 million over five years to acquire and produce content from south India, an executive said on Monday, as theWalt Disney and Reliance Industries-owned streaming platform seeks to capitalize on growing demand for regional cinema. The expansion comes at a time when the Mumbai- based Hindi film industry is struggling to regain its allure in the world’s most-populous country even as south Indian films gain wider acceptance locally and globally, rivaling Hindi films’ box-office performance. “To reiterate our belief in this market, we are com- mitted to spend 40 billion rupees … over the (next) 5 years on JioHotstar,” said Krishnan Kutty, the head of entertainment for southern India at JioStar, the Reliance-Disney joint venture that runs the streaming platform. JioHotstar, which has more than 200 million sub- scribers and competes with Amazon’s Prime Video and Netflix in India, plans to more than double the number of subscribers, including through regional and influencer-based content. It did not provide a timeline. South India has four widely spoken languages, each with a vibrant film industry: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Consumers in southern Indian states spend 70% more time on JioHotstar, whose cheapest plan costs as little as 50 rupees (about 50 U.S. cents) a month, Kutty said. JioHotstar will invest in series and movies from the region and also expand its portfolio of non-scripted content, Kutty said. Movies that have already been re- leased in cinemas will make up most of its investments in films, he said. When asked about the impact of Netflix’s deal to acquireWarner Bros Discovery’s TV, film studios and streaming business, Sushant Sreeram, the chief marketing officer at JioStar, said the partnership with Warner Bros will “continue till its end date.” He did not disclose the date. Paramount Skydance has since launched a hostile bid forWarner Bros Discovery. -Reuters A view shows a Microsoft logo at Microsoft offices in Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, France, March 25, 2024. PHOTO:REUTERS/PRIYANSHU SINGH PHOTO:REUTERS/CARLO ALLEGRI/FILE PHOTO A man uses the JioHotstar app on his mobile phone in New Delhi, India, March 27, 2025. The BlackRock logo is pictured outside their headquarters in the Manhattan borough of New York City, New York, U.S., May 25, 2021. I ndia’s Aditya Birla Renewables said on Tuesday that BlackRock’s infrastructure fund will invest 20 billion rupees ($222.50 million) and take a minority stake in the green-energy company. BlackRock’s Global Infrastructure Partners will also have a “greenshoe option” to invest a further 10 billion rupees in the Indian company, taking the total investment to 30 billion rupees (about $335 million), Aditya Birla Renewables said. The investment values the renewable energy company at 146 billion rupees, including debt, the company said in a statement. Aditya Birla Renewables is a wholly owned unit of India’s Grasim Industries Ltd, which is part of the Aditya Birla Group. -Reuters BlackRock Fund To Invest About $225 Million In India’s Aditya Birla Renewables