Microsoft Corp. announced its largest investment to date in Australia, pledging to spend 25 billion Australian dollars ($17.9 billion) by the end of 2029, in its quest to further penetrate the artificial intelligence market in the Asia-Pacific region.
The American giant will significantly expand its Azure AI cloud and supercomputing infrastructure in Australia, while also committing to AI safety, training and cybersecurity initiatives, the company said in a statement ahead of CEO Satya Nadella’s speech at a Microsoft event in Sydney on Thursday.
Microsoft and other American companies such as Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc. are investing billions of dollars in their fight to attract AI users around the world. Microsoft’s Copilot has struggled to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, and the company is banking on markets like Australia to gain advantages.
“Australia has a huge opportunity to transform AI into real economic growth and social benefit,” Nadella said in the statement.
The company signed a memorandum of understanding with the government, in line with the recently announced guidelines for developers of AI infrastructure and data centers, and will collaborate with the new Australian Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute, created to respond to risks and harms related to AI.
This investment builds on a $5 billion commitment to Australia in October 2023.
The company will also train 3 million more Australians in artificial intelligence skills by the end of 2028, in addition to the million that he had already announced that he would train in Australia and New Zealand, as reported.
Microsoft’s long-term investment in Australia’s capabilities will help strengthen cyber defenses and create opportunities for Australian workers and businesses, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared in a statement.
Australia is seeking to build a strong AI ecosystem to keep pace with economic leaders such as the United States and China. Microsoft’s commitment in Australia follows similar recent announcements in Japan, Singapore and Thailand.
In total, Microsoft and its US competitors in the cloud computing sector plan to invest around $650 billion this year to build energy-intensive data centers.
As part of its AI offering, Microsoft has focused its efforts on selling Copilot, its AI tool for the workplace, rather than offering it for free as part of a software package. It is unifying Copilot’s teams, for both individual and corporate clients, with the goal of creating a more seamless AI service across all its products.
