Amazon bets billions on India to power AI ambitions: Report

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is investing heavily in India to expand its cloud and Artificial Intelligence infrastructure as the global AI race heats up, Business Standard has reported.

The investment centres on expanding cloud infrastructure, including data centres, networking and AI-ready computing capacity. AWS sees India's large base of software developers and startups as a strategic advantage, helping to accelerate innovation on its platform, the report said.

“You need all these investments in computer infra to power those future developments in a big way,” Swami Sivasubramanian, vice-president, AWS Agentic AI, and, until recently, a key advisor to the White House on AI competitiveness, was quoted as saying. “We are in an unprecedented time when it comes to AI, in terms of what it is able to do,” said Sivasubramanian, who was on a visit to India.

The move comes amid escalating global competition in AI between the United States and China.

“The Indian developer community is one of the most vibrant communities,” said Sivasubramanian. “Indian builders are incredibly passionate, curious, and excited to embrace new technologies.”

The company had committed to invest $12.7 billion in 2023 to build on AWS’s existing presence in India, which includes two cloud infrastructure regions in Mumbai and Hyderabad, the report added. Since 2016, AWS has invested billions in data centres and trained more than four million professionals in cloud skills across India.