Microsoft Launches India South Central Datacenter Region in Hyderabad, Designates It Strategic Hub for Asia and Global South

Microsoft has brought its India cloud infrastructure to a new milestone with the launch of India South Central, its fourth datacenter region in the country, located in Hyderabad. The region has been designated a strategic hub for Asia and the Global South, reflecting Microsoft's long-term commitment to capacity expansion, resilience and AI innovation across the region. The announcement was made at the Microsoft AI Infrastructure Summit in New Delhi, where Puneet Chandok, President of Microsoft India and South Asia, also revealed that Microsoft's datacenter regions across India are now AI-enabled, built with AI-capable hardware, high-efficiency cooling systems and the platform foundation required to host and run advanced AI workloads.

The India South Central region features a resilient three-zone architecture designed for sustained expansion, with additional Azure and AI services planned for rollout in the coming months. The region launches with a broad portfolio of Azure services and is designed to support the full suite of Azure and AI services, including Microsoft Foundry, as additional capabilities become available. Organizations will be able to deploy eligible sensitive workloads in India using controls designed to support their security, compliance and sovereignty requirements. The new region marks a significant step in Microsoft's US$20.5 billion commitment to India, turning that investment into operational infrastructure for the country's cloud and AI future. Leading enterprises and critical infrastructure organizations, including Adani Group, Bajaj Finserv, HDFC Bank and PB Pay, have already signed up on the new region.

The strategic hub ambition extends beyond serving domestic demand. India brings together hyperscale infrastructure, engineering talent, a fast-growing digital economy and experience building technology for complex, diverse markets. This combination positions the region to support customers across South Asia, accelerate innovation for Asia and create solutions relevant to the Global South. A BCG study estimates that the datacenter buildout in India could catalyze a wider economic flywheel and generate $140-200 billion in economic output for India through 2030. With the largest hyperscaler cloud presence in the country, Microsoft's investments continue to contribute meaningfully to India's expanding economic growth.

Shri Jitin Prasada, Hon'ble Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, and Electronics & Information Technology, commented at the event that India's ambition is to be an AI-first nation and that the launch of Microsoft's India South Central datacenter region strengthens the digital infrastructure needed to support that ambition. He noted that as India advances the IndiaAI Mission, investments such as these expand national AI capability, accelerate innovation and enable developers, enterprises and public institutions to build and deploy AI with confidence. Puneet Chandok added that India South Central is where Microsoft's $20.5 billion investment becomes operational infrastructure, with leading Indian enterprises already running on it, and emphasized that compute alone does not make a nation AI-ready — capability does. He highlighted that the region is cooled with effectively zero water and that Microsoft has already equipped more than 10 million Indians with AI skills on the way to 20 million by 2030.

Beyond AI-ready datacenters, Microsoft is investing in critical digital infrastructure that enables AI at scale. As a consortium partner in the planned India-Southeast Asia (I-2SEA) submarine cable system, Microsoft is supporting the development of a 3,600-kilometre subsea corridor linking India, Malaysia and Singapore. With dual landings in India at Machilipatnam and South Chennai, the system will strengthen regional connectivity, improve network resilience and provide the high-capacity foundation needed to support growing AI, cloud and hyperscale demand across India and the region. The cable system is targeted to be ready for service in 2029.

On the skilling front, Microsoft Elevate India has equipped more than 10 million Indians with AI skills towards its commitment of skilling 20 million people by 2030. About 25 percent of learners have progressed beyond foundational AI courses and gained credentials for additional learning pathways. Microsoft also continues to invest in India's digital future through its Data Center Academy, a 600-hour industry-aligned skilling program delivered in collaboration with Young India Skills University (YISU), Government of Telangana, which equips students with hands-on expertise in critical datacenter operations and infrastructure management.

The India South Central region expands Microsoft's Sovereign Public Cloud foundation in India, giving organizations more options for deploying eligible cloud and AI workloads closer to their data, users and operations. The region provides local capacity, data residency options, Availability Zones and governance capabilities designed to help customers address applicable regulatory, security, operational and sovereignty requirements. Microsoft's India cloud regions provide capabilities aligned with MeitY guidelines and designed to help customers address applicable requirements under India's Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) framework and sector-specific expectations from authorities including the RBI and CERT-In. As supported services become available in India South Central, capabilities such as Azure confidential computing, Customer Lockbox and Azure Key Vault can help customers strengthen protection of data in use, control encryption keys and govern Microsoft operational access.

The India South Central region operates on zero water cooling in line with Microsoft's global commitments to become carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030. Through its Datacenter Community Pledge, Microsoft also works with educational institutions, non-profits and government to support local priorities. In the Hyderabad region, the company collaborates with local partners on groundwater recharge, rainwater harvesting and watershed resilience. The Elikatta groundwater-recharge program has added approximately 5 million liters of recharge capacity by June 2026, establishing Elikatta as a scalable water-secure community.