The tech giant pours more money into building out AI infrastructure and training in the most populous country in the world.
Just 24 hours after Microsoft revealed its own plan to spend $17.5 billion on building out AI infrastructure in the country, Amazon confirmed its own intentions to do the same.
The tech giant has pledged to invest a further $35 billion in India by 2030, with the focus on expanding business through three key pillars: AI-driven digitization, export growth and job creation. Up to 3.8 million jobs could ultimately be supported, according to a company blog post.
Amazon is now the largest foreign investor in India, unveiling its latest spending at its Smbhav Summit in New Delhi. It adds to the $40 billion Amazon has already committed, which it said has already digitized 12 million small businesses.
A key target for Amazon is making AI accessible to all by 2030. Its roadmap for delivering this includes different priorities such as bringing AI to 15 million small businesses, citing how sellers on its Indian website can use AI-powered tools such as Seller Assistant and Next Gen Selling.
It also wants to introduce hundreds of millions of shoppers to services such as Lens AI for visual discovery, chatbot Rufus for conversational shopping and multilingual AI to help break “literacy barriers.”
Related:Neocloud Providers Look to Network AI Data Centers
Amazon also plans to ramp up education and training, with the aim of preparing more than four million government school students for careers in AI, through an increased focus on AI in the curriculum and teacher training programs.
The company previously revealed plans to build out India’s cloud and AI infrastructure across the Telangana and Maharashtra regions with a $12.7 billion investment.
With India now the most populous country in the world — around 1.46 billion people are estimated to live there — it could prove to be one of the greatest beneficiaries of the AI era.
Samir Kumar, Amazon’s country manager, explained in a blog post earlier this month: “AI has the potential to be the great equaliser in India — breaking down barriers of language, literacy, and access that have historically held people back.”With Amazon’s announcement following on from Microsoft’s major package, it has proven a fruitful week for India, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi acknowledged on X, formerly Twitter. He said: “When it comes to AI, the world is optimistic about India! The youth of India will harness this opportunity to innovate and leverage the power of AI for a better planet.”
https://aibusiness.com/data-centers/amazon-to-spend-another-35b-in-india-with-ai-the-focus
