Microsoft said that it’s data centre expansion in Northern Italy coupled with its commitment to provide extensive AI skills training, supports the rising demand for AI compute and cloud services across Italy as organisations look to boost productivity and uncover new breakthroughs with AI. Microsoft continues its heavy spending spree in the data centre and artificial intelligence (AI) sector, with Italy being the latest country to receive a huge investment. In November 2023 Microsoft made its single largest investment in its forty-year history in the UK, by spending £2.5 billion over the next three years to expand its next generation AI data centre infrastructure in the UK. Italy might lose about 3.7 million workers by 2040, the number of people projected to depart the workforce, resulting in €267.8 billion in national GDP at present productivity level, the software giant noted, but pointed to new technologies such as AI to help make it possible to maintain the same level of economic well-being. Microsoft and its partners will introduce new training programs to skill more than 1 million people in Italy by 2025, focused on AI fluency, technical AI skills, AI business transformation, and the promotion of safe and responsible AI development. Since November 2023 Microsoft has been making major investments in a number of countries, with the investments typically focused on data centres and AI skills. “In less than a year, our Cloud Region has support Italian and international companies achieve greater productivity and innovation,” said Vincenzo Esposito, General Manager Microsoft Italy. Microsoft’s announcement on Wednesday of its huge investment into northern Italy aims to help that country maximise the opportunities of AI and to contribute to the focus of the Italian government on long-term economic growth amid a stark demographic challenge. With this investment, Italy North will become one of Microsoft’s largest data centre regions on the continent and will play a crucial role in meeting European data boundary requirements. Then last month both Microsoft and BlackRock announced a fund worth more than $30 billion to invest in AI-focused data centres, AI supply chains and energy sourcing. “This new investment confirms our commitment for the sustainable growth of Italy by helping organizations harness the power of Cloud and Generative AI while providing Italians with the skills to maximize these technologies. “This landmark investment underscores our long-standing commitment to Italy’s digital transformation,” said Brad Smith, Vice Chair and President of Microsoft. Microsoft said it would invest $2.9 billion in Japan, $1.7 billion in Indonesia, another significant commitments in Thailand, and $2.2 billion investment in Malaysia. Then in February 2024 Microsoft confirmed it will invest 3.2 billion euros ($3.44 billion) in Germany in the next two years, mostly in artificial intelligence. Microsoft has been busy over the past eleven months making major investments in Europe and south east Asia, which began with the United Kingdom.
This Cyber News was published on www.silicon.co.uk. Publication date: Thu, 03 Oct 2024 16:43:06 +0000