New Delhi, September 21, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Microsoft has launched its fourth cloud region in India in Hyderabad, expanding its cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure footprint as the country prepares for a sharp increase in data centre capacity and enterprise AI adoption.
The newly launched India South Central cloud region in Hyderabad joins Microsoft’s existing cloud regions in Pune, Chennai and Mumbai, giving the technology major its largest hyperscale cloud infrastructure presence in India.
The expansion is part of Microsoft’s previously announced $20.5-billion investment commitment in India, which covers cloud capabilities, AI infrastructure, skilling initiatives and operational expansion.
Speaking at the launch, Microsoft India and South Asia President Puneet Chandok said India was at a pivotal stage in its digital transformation, with the country emerging as one of the world’s largest generators of data.
Chandok said India currently generates nearly 20 per cent of the world’s data but has only around 3 per cent of global data centre capacity.
“20 per cent of the world’s data is being generated by India, but only 3 per cent of the world’s data centre capacity sits in our country,” Chandok said.
He described the gap between data generation and data centre capacity as “the largest opportunity of the decade for India”.
India currently has around 2 gigawatts (GW) of data centre capacity. Chandok expects this to rise to between 12 GW and 14 GW by 2035 as businesses, government departments and institutions move from experimenting with AI to deploying applications at scale.
He said demand for AI services was already strong, with the key challenge now being the development of adequate infrastructure to support the anticipated growth.
“The digital scale that we are building requires physical scale, and that is the national imperative for all of us,” Chandok said.
The Hyderabad cloud region is therefore being positioned as part of Microsoft’s broader infrastructure expansion in India, amid growing demand for cloud computing and AI-enabled services.
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