Puneet Chandok, President, Microsoft India and South Asia, has overseen the launch of Microsoft’s fourth cloud region in India, in Hyderabad. The India South Central region, designed for advanced AI workloads, forms part of Microsoft’s $20.5-billion investment commitment in the country. Chandok has positioned Hyderabad as a strategic hub for Asia and the Global South, while highlighting the need for greater data-centre capacity as AI adoption accelerates. Microsoft is also targeting AI skilling for 20 million Indians by 2030, with more than 10 million people already trained.