At the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi, Microsoft announced that it is on track to invest $50 billion (₹72,000 crore) by the end of this decade to expand artificial intelligence infrastructure, skills, and innovation across countries in the Global South.
The announcement comes amid growing concerns that AI adoption is advancing much faster in developed economies, potentially widening the gap between rich and developing nations. Why Microsoft is raising the alarm According to the company, AI adoption in developed countries is currently about twice as high as in developing regions. This imbalance, Microsoft warned, could deepen economic inequality if not addressed in time.
Speaking at the summit, Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft, said: And this divide continues to widen. This disparity impacts not only national and regional economic growth, but also whether AI can deliver on its broader promise of expanding opportunity and prosperity around the world. Drawing a historical comparison, he added: “For more than a century, unequal access to electricity exacerbated a growing economic gap between the Global North and South. Unless we act with urgency, a growing AI divide will perpetuate this disparity in the century ahead.” A five-part strategy to expand AI access Microsoft outlined a five-part plan to ensure wider AI adoption across emerging economies. The strategy focuses on building AI-ready infrastructure, expanding digital and AI skills, strengthening multilingual capabilities, supporting local innovation, and measuring AI diffusion more effectively to guide policy decisions. In a post on X, Smith described the approach, saying: Our five-part program is designed to make AI diffusion real at scale, so communities have what they need to access AI, trust it, and apply it to local priorities, with progress they can track. The emphasis, according to the company, is not just on deploying technology but ensuring that it is accessible, trusted and relevant to local needs. Also read: Galgotias University flaunts Chinese robot as its own, sparks row
Infrastructure investments across regions Microsoft said that in the last fiscal year alone, it invested over $8 billion in data centre infrastructure serving the Global South, including India, Mexico, several African nations, South America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. Alongside computing infrastructure, the company is working to improve internet connectivity in underserved regions. It aims to reach 250 million people with connectivity initiatives and claims to have already connected more than 117 million people in Africa through partnerships. The company argues that without reliable internet access and computing power, AI cannot meaningfully reach communities that stand to benefit the most. India at the centre of the skilling push India features prominently in Microsoft’s AI expansion plans. The company said it will train 5.6 million people in India in 2025 and aims to equip 20 million Indians with AI skills by 2030. This includes students, developers, and working professionals. Under its Elevate initiative, Microsoft has also launched “Elevate for Educators,” which aims to support two million teachers across more than 200,000 institutions. The broader goal is to expand equitable AI access to nearly eight million students. Microsoft had earlier announced $17.5 billion in AI investments in India, reinforcing its focus on one of the world’s fastest-growing digital markets. Also read: Watch all released videos from Epstein files in one place
Strengthening Multilingual AI To address language barriers, Microsoft said it is investing in multilingual AI development. This includes building better datasets, evaluation tools, and benchmarks for underrepresented languages. The objective is to ensure that AI systems function reliably beyond English-speaking markets, making them more inclusive and practical for diverse populations across the Global South. The larger context Microsoft’s $50 billion (₹72,000 crore) commitment signals a long-term strategy to ensure that the benefits of artificial intelligence are not concentrated in a handful of advanced economies.
The company’s leadership has framed the issue as both an economic and moral challenge, one that will shape how inclusive the AI-driven future ultimately becomes. Whether these investments succeed in narrowing the divide will depend on how effectively they translate into meaningful access, measurable adoption, and tangible economic outcomes across the Global South.
