Microsoft announces massive AI push in Australia

The investment was announced by Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, who is visiting Australia, alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, according to a statement from the company.

It marks Microsoft’s largest-ever investment in Australia.

The funding will support new digital infrastructure, national cyber defense capabilities and workforce skilling programs.

"This commitment will significantly expand Microsoft’s Azure AI supercomputing and cloud infrastructure in Australia, expand the Microsoft-ASD Cyber-Shield to additional government agencies, deepen collaboration on national resilience with the Department of Home Affairs, and equip three million Australians with workforce-ready AI skills," the statement said.

Albanese said the government wants to ensure that "all Australians benefit from AI."

"Our National AI Plan is all about capturing the economic opportunities of this transformative technology while protecting Australians from the risks," he said.

Nadella said that Australia has an "enormous opportunity to translate AI into real economic growth and societal benefit."

Microsoft also plans to expand its existing footprint across Commercial Cloud and AI/GPU offerings for Australian customers by more than 140% by the end of 2029.

The company pledged A$5 billion ($3.5 billion) in 2023 for AI infrastructure and cyber defense.

Microsoft earlier this month announced plans to invest 1.6 trillion yen ($10 billion) in Japan to expand its artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.

It also announced an investment of $17.5 billion in India last year to advance cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling and ongoing operations.