Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: E-commerce giant Amazon last week committed to investing over $35 billion in India’s cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) space by 2030, as hyper-scalers race to get a foothold in the market.
The commitment, unveiled at the Amazon Smbhav Summit in New Delhi, builds on nearly $40 billion already invested in the country.
In a press release, Amazon said the new funds will target AI-driven digitisation, export growth and job creation, aligning with India’s national priorities to build up its local AI environment.
By 2030, Amazon said the plan is expected to generate an additional 1 million direct, indirect, induced and seasonal jobs in India, quadruple exports to $80 billion and deliver AI benefits to 15 million small businesses.
India is one of the fastest growing regions for AI spending within Asia Pacific, Deepika Giri, IDC’s regional head of research for big data & AI, told CNBC.
“A major gap, and therefore a significant opportunity, lies in the shortage of suitable compute infrastructure for running AI models,” Giri said.
She added that countries across Asia are accelerating efforts to build sovereign AI capabilities as the technology becomes more regionalised due to trade tensions and tariffs, with infrastructure as a central pillar of those strategies.
The investment highlights Amazon’s bet on India’s booming digital economy, where it has been building fulfilment centres, as well as data centres and payments infrastructure under its Amazon Web Services subsidiary.
It also comes soon after Microsoft announced plans to invest $17.5 billion in India’s AI infrastructure as Big Tech players accelerate their push into the market.
“We are humbled to have been a part of India’s digital transformation journey over the past 15 years,” said Amit Agarwal, senior vice president for emerging markets at Amazon.
“Looking ahead, we’re excited to continue being a catalyst for India’s growth, as we democratise access to AI for millions of Indians.”