Microsoft launches 4th cloud region in India

Microsoft has launched its fourth cloud region in India in Hyderabad, expanding its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure footprint as the country gears up for a major increase in data centre capacity and enterprise AI adoption.

The newly launched India South Central cloud region in Hyderabad joins Microsoft's existing cloud regions in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai, giving the technology giant its largest hyperscale cloud infrastructure presence in the country.

The launch forms part of Microsoft's previously announced $20.5-billion investment commitment in India, aimed at strengthening cloud capabilities, AI infrastructure, skilling initiatives and operational expansion.

Speaking at the launch, Microsoft India and South Asia President Puneet Chandok said India is at a pivotal moment in its digital transformation journey, with the country emerging as one of the world's largest generators of data.

According to Chandok, India now generates nearly 20 per cent of the world's data but accounts for only about 3 per cent of global data centre 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 (GW) of data centre capacity, a figure Chandok expects to increase to between 12 GW and 14 GW by 2035. He said the rapid expansion would be necessary as businesses, government departments and institutions move beyond AI experimentation and begin deploying AI applications at scale.

Chandok emphasised that demand for AI services is already strong and that the key challenge is building sufficient 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 mentioned.