In a significant move to bolster India's artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, Microsoft and Yotta Data Services have announced a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating AI development within the country. This collaboration integrates Microsoft's Azure AI services with Yotta's Shakti Cloud, India's sovereign AI infrastructure, to provide developers, startups, enterprises, and government entities with access to cutting-edge AI tools and computing resources.
Integration of Azure AI and Shakti Cloud
Under this alliance, Microsoft will offer its suite of AI models, development platforms, and enterprise-ready tools through Azure AI. Concurrently, Yotta will supply the high-performance GPU infrastructure necessary for training, inferencing, and deploying AI applications locally. This combined solution is designed to facilitate the rapid development of indigenous AI models while ensuring data sovereignty and compliance with national security frameworks.
Alignment with the IndiaAI Mission
This partnership directly supports the IndiaAI Mission, a national initiative aimed at building a robust AI ecosystem in India. As of May 2025, the initiative has attracted over 500 proposals focused on developing homegrown AI models tailored to India's needs across various sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, education, manufacturing, and finance. The joint platform from Microsoft and Yotta aims to bring these proposals to fruition by offering scalable infrastructure and development tools within the country.
Democratizing AI Access
A key objective of the partnership is to make advanced AI capabilities more accessible to a broader spectrum of users. From public sector departments and academic institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) to fast-growing startups and large enterprises, the collaboration seeks to democratize access to powerful AI tools. Customers of Shakti Cloud will gain access to Azure AI Foundry's catalog of large and small language models, including tools for safe and responsible deployment such as content filters, groundedness detection, and copyright protection.
Building a Hybrid AI Infrastructure
The partnership also marks a step toward establishing a hybrid AI infrastructure in India, combining the benefits of global AI innovation with the assurances of local data hosting and low-latency access. Microsoft and Yotta are positioning this as a foundation for AI self-reliance and digital transformation, aligned with India's broader vision of becoming an AI-first nation.
Microsoft's Continued Commitment to AI in India
This collaboration builds on Microsoft's earlier commitment to AI development in India, including a $3 billion investment in expanding cloud and AI infrastructure and establishing AI Centers of Excellence. By joining forces, Microsoft and Yotta aim to accelerate innovation and create a future-ready AI ecosystem rooted in trust, safety, and sovereign control.
Yotta's Role in India's AI Landscape
Yotta Data Services has been a pivotal player in advancing India's AI ecosystem. The company has been officially empaneled under the India AI Mission, committing over 9,216 advanced GPUs, including 8,192 NVIDIA H100 GPUs and 1,024 L40S GPUs, to the initiative. These resources are made available through Yotta's Shakti Cloud, delivering ultra-low latency, high-performance AI compute power to government entities, startups, and enterprises. Yotta's offerings include AI Labs for students, AI Workspaces, GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS), and API endpoints for AI models, enabling rapid AI development and deployment. (yotta.com)
Strategic Collaborations and Infrastructure
In December 2023, Yotta announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to deliver cutting-edge GPU computing infrastructure and platforms for its Shakti Cloud platform. This collaboration aimed to advance the development of AI solutions in India by bringing state-of-the-art AI capabilities within reach of numerous organizations, businesses, AI researchers, and startups across the country. Yotta placed a large order for NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs, planning to go operational with 4,096 GPUs by January 2024 and 16,384 GPUs by June 2024. The company also planned to scale up its GPU capacity to 32,768 by the end of 2025. (yotta.com)
Empowering AI Education and Development
Yotta has also unveiled six innovative AI platform services under its Shakti Cloud platform, including AI Lab as a Service, AI Workspace as a Service, Inferencing as a Service (Serverless and API Endpoints), GPU as a Service (GPUaaS), and Kubernetes Cluster as a Service (K8SaaS). These services are designed to accelerate AI adoption for businesses, researchers, and innovators by offering state-of-the-art capabilities at competitive prices. The launch marked a significant milestone in making AI more accessible, flexible, and powerful for organizations of all sizes. (yotta.com)
Conclusion
The partnership between Microsoft and Yotta Data Services represents a significant advancement in India's AI journey. By combining Microsoft's Azure AI services with Yotta's Shakti Cloud infrastructure, the collaboration aims to accelerate the development of indigenous AI models, ensure data sovereignty, and democratize access to powerful AI tools across various sectors. This strategic alliance aligns with India's broader vision of becoming an AI-first nation and underscores the commitment of both companies to fostering innovation and digital transformation within the country.
Source: dqindia.com Microsoft and Yotta partner to accelerate India’s AI journey
