March 8, New Delhi Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, attended the groundbreaking ceremony for Microsoft’s projected India Development Center (IDC) facility in Noida on Saturday.

The planned 15-acre, 1.1 million-square-foot Noida site will be a center for security, cloud, and artificial intelligence developments, boosting Microsoft IDC’s footprint in the nation.

Microsoft stated in a statement that it would keep up its pace of bolstering India’s AI capabilities and fostering engineering talent and digital innovation with the planned Noida site.

Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director and President of Microsoft IDC, said, “The groundbreaking ceremony of our new Noida campus reflects Microsoft’s continued commitment to advancing responsible AI innovation that empowers all communities, businesses, and citizens.”

Top talent from India and throughout the globe will be drawn to the planned facility, which would enable them to develop in the fields of artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and security, improving the lives of billions of people worldwide.

“We are thankful to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for attending and for the support of the Uttar Pradesh government and Noida Authority in realizing this vision,” Kumar said.

The center would deepen “deep partnership with Uttar Pradesh, and helping India become an AI-first nation,” promote AI skilling possibilities, and speed up digital transformation.

Microsoft IDC is well-established in Noida, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.

The Microsoft IDC is the company’s biggest research and development facility outside of its Redmond, Washington, headquarters.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella launched a number of AI collaborations in the nation earlier this year, including a Memorandum of Understanding with the government’s “India AI Mission” to train 5 lakh individuals.

According to the MOU, by 2026, Microsoft and India AI would have trained 500,000 people, including students, teachers, developers, government representatives, and female entrepreneurs.

Additionally, they will create an AI Center of Excellence named “AI Catalysts” to empower 100,000 AI developers and innovators in rural areas by means of hackathons, community-building initiatives, and an AI marketplace.