US tech majors commit USD 67.5 billion to India’s AI and data push

A New York Times report highlights how American technology giants are investing heavily in India’s Artificial Intelligence and data centre infrastructure. Despite trade tensions between Washington and New Delhi, projects are advancing, with Hyderabad and coastal cities emerging as prime hubs.

Washington: American technology giants are pouring tens of billions of dollars into India as the country emerges as a key global hub for data centres and Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure, a New York Times report detailed on Saturday.

The daily said that investments – led by Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Meta – are reshaping India’s digital landscape and underscoring the scale of global demand for data storage and computing power.

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Microsoft has committed $17.5 billion to Artificial Intelligence projects in India, while Amazon has announced plans to invest $35 billion in AI-driven initiatives across the country over the next five years.

Google has pledged $15 billion for data centres through partnerships with Indian conglomerates Adani Group and Bharti Airtel. Meta is also building a major facility near Google’s planned sites, alongside projects by other Indian industrial houses.

Altogether, the commitments total at least $67.5 billion, making the push one of the largest single-sector investment waves India has seen. “This is going to be one of the largest single-sector investments that India’s ever seen,” Somnath Mukherjee, Chief Investment Officer at ASK Wealth Advisors in Mumbai, was quoted as saying by The New York Times.

Companies are betting on India’s fast-growing digital economy and vast user base. The country hosts nearly 20 per cent of the world’s data but only a small fraction of global storage capacity. “India is the largest consumer of data in the world, but with barely five per cent of American data capacity,” Mukherjee told the daily.

The surge, it noted, comes despite trade frictions between Washington and New Delhi, including steep US tariffs announced earlier this year. The report said that while negotiators continue to seek compromises, investment in Artificial Intelligence infrastructure has pressed ahead.

India’s government, keen to avoid dependence on overseas servers, has also weighed rules requiring data to be stored locally. Since 2018, officials have considered laws mandating that digital services be based on servers inside the country, with banks and messaging platforms already subject to such requirements.

Data centres are spreading across major urban regions, particularly along India’s coasts and in cities such as Hyderabad, which has attracted large projects through policy incentives, access to power, and improved water supplies.

Globally, Artificial Intelligence has triggered a race to build massive data infrastructure, with trillions of dollars at stake. For India, the influx constitutes a concerted attempt to secure its place in the digital economy, even as challenges over land, electricity, and water remain central to the debate in the long run sustainability.