Amazon pledges additional US$13bil in India AI investment

NEW DELHI: E-commerce giant Amazon announced on Thursday an additional US$13-billion investment by 2030 to expand its artificial intelligence footprint in India, months after declaring plans to invest more than US$35 billion.

The announcement was made following a meeting between company CEO Andy Jassy and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The US$13 billion will target AI and cloud infrastructure in Mumbai and Hyderabad, the company said in a statement.

“Amazon’s cumulative investments in India from 2010-2030 stand at over US$88 billion,” the company said.

Jassy said he was “excited” about the future.

“Still early days for what we can build,” he said in a post on X.

“By 2030, we plan to support 3.8 million jobs, enable US$80 billion in ecomm exports, and bring benefits of AI to 15 million small businesses and four million government school students,” he added.

Modi welcomed the investment, adding that it would increase opportunities for the country’s youth.

“It shows the growing interest across the world to invest in India!” he said on X.

Several global corporations have announced large investments in the world’s most populous nation, which has more than a billion internet users.

There has been a string of billion-dollar data centre announcements from tech giants like Google as well as domestic firms such as Reliance Industries.