Saudi Arabia’s Balady Platform Shares its Experience at SDG Digital Event

Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA
Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA
TT

Saudi Arabia’s Balady Platform Shares its Experience at SDG Digital Event

Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA
Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience. SPA

Saudi Arabia’s Balady digital city platform shared its pioneering experience in digital municipal operations services at the high-level SDG Digital event in New York.

The event was convened by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

The Saudi platform presented its experience in providing innovative services aiming to enrich the future of dwellers of Saudi cities and improve their quality of life and prosperity through its digital municipal service system.

Balady platform was selected from among 300 regional and international technical initiatives to present its experience about challenges facing the achievement of sustainable development.

The platform showcased its pioneering efforts in leading urban development and providing innovative municipal services globally to exchange global expertise with other participating parties at the event.



Microsoft to Invest $3 Bln to Expand AI, Cloud Capacity in India

26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
TT

Microsoft to Invest $3 Bln to Expand AI, Cloud Capacity in India

26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)
26 March 2021, Bavaria, Munich: The Microsoft logo hangs on the facade of an office building in Parkstadt Schwabing in the north of the Bavarian capital. (dpa)

Microsoft will invest about $3 billion to expand capacity for artificial intelligence and its Azure cloud-computing services in India, CEO Satya Nadella said on Tuesday.

The tech giant is the latest to pledge investment in India, a country seen as a key growth market for US technology companies thanks to its population of more than 1.4 billion people and low-cost internet access.

Executives ranging from Nvidia chief Jensen Huang to Meta's chief AI scientist Yann LeCun have visited India in recent months.

The $3 billion investment in India would be the "single largest expansion" done in the country, Nadella said at a conference in the southern Indian city of Bengaluru.

Microsoft will also train 10 million people in AI in India by 2030, Nadella said.

When Nadella visited India early last year, he announced the company will provide 2 million people in the country with AI skilling opportunities by 2025, focused on training individuals in smaller cities as well as rural areas.

Nadella met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, and the pair discussed "tech, innovation and AI" and "Microsoft's ambitious expansion and investment plans in India."

Microsoft has been pouring billions of dollars into expanding capacity across the globe to boost AI infrastructure and its data-center network.

The company last week unveiled plans to invest about $80 billion in fiscal 2025.

The investment, more than half of which will be in the United States, will focus on developing data centers to train AI models and deploy AI and cloud-based applications.