Microsoft to establish fourth data centre in Hyderabad

Tech major Microsoft announced on Monday that it is planning to set up its fourth data centre region in Hyderabad, Telangana. The firm explained that this investment is aligned with Microsoft's commitment to help customers thrive in a cloud and AI-enabled digital economy and will become part of the world's largest cloud infrastructure.

The company will set up the data centre at Hyderabad, which comes in addition to the existing three facilities located in Pune, Mumbai, and Chennai. The firm expects the data centre to be operational by 2025. 

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & Information Technology of India shared, "Today's commitment to the people and businesses of India will position the country among the world's digital leaders. A Microsoft datacenter region provides a competitive advantage to our digital economy and is a long-term investment in our country's potential. The cloud is transforming every industry and sector. The investment in skilling will empower India's workforce today and into the future."

The data centre will offer the entire Microsoft portfolio across the cloud, data solutions, artificial intelligence (AI), productivity tools, and customer relationship management (CRM) with advanced data security, for enterprises, start-ups, developers, education, and government institutions.

"The new datacenter will augment Microsoft's cloud capabilities and capacity to support those working across the country. It will also support new entrepreneurial opportunities while meeting critical security and compliance needs. The new datacenter region is a testament to our mission to empower the people and organizations of India to achieve more. We are pleased to be collaborating with the Government of Telangana on this major milestone and we deeply appreciate their support, said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India. 

Maheshwari explained that had doubled its data centre capacity in India. He added that this is a continuous investment. The data centre in Hyderabad will not be the largest from day one, bit it will become largest over a period of time, explained Maheshwar.

Microsoft explained that according to study done by research firm IDC, Microsoft data centres in India contributed $9.5 billion revenue to the economy between 2016 and 2020. Besides GDP impact, the IDC report estimated 1.5 million jobs were added to the economy, including 169,000 new skilled IT jobs.

Also read: Microsoft's Activision acquisition is a bet on Gaming and Metaverse

Also read: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s son Zain passes away at 26