We are entering a very new age, driven by AI, which has made clear the critical importance of both digital infrastructure and connectivity in every sector of the economy and every corner of the world, as well as energy.

There is no doubt that AI is one of the most transformative technologies of our time, and we believe it will fundamentally bend the productivity curve for every individual, organization, and industry sector to help us address some of our most pressing global challenges, including in the world’s low-income countries.

At Microsoft we have this saying where we say that we will only succeed if the world around is fundamentally succeeding. We are therefore very, very focused on ensuring that every country can benefit from this broad technological shift, while mitigating its risks. 

This presents a pretty unique opportunity to help address the economic development and societal priorities, everywhere in the world, whether it’s small businesses becoming more productive, whether it’s the multinationals in every part of the world becoming more competitive, globally, governments becoming more efficient, improving health outcomes and education outcomes.

Over the past three months, for example, we have invested $5 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure in Indonesia and Malaysia and Thailand, as well as in Kenya, together with our partners G42 of the UAE. This is work designed to drive that broad spectrum of economic growth, innovation, and connectivity to drive productivity. 

But we recognize that this requires more than just infrastructure, which is why we have also launched initiatives to provide broad-based AI skilling opportunities, strengthen cybersecurity, and support startups and innovative companies around the world. 

We have already seen many examples of this impact in action. I was in Indonesia recently and I saw how Indonesian farmers are improving their yields. To Kenyan street vendors who now have access to credit for the first time. 

We also have noted that the infrastructure of the future has to be sustainable, and so this is why we are investing in carbon-free energy, as well as efforts to develop greener steel and concrete in order to build our data centers, and also make our silicon more carbon-free and efficient.

At the same time, this ambition is not something that any one company, or for that matter, any one country can accomplish on its own. This requires broad partnerships across the private and public sectors.

For example, we need regulatory innovation to enable multiple countries to share digital infrastructure when located in neighboring regions. That’s what we did in Kenya, where we created a trusted data zone for the East Africa community, in partnership with the government and G42. This ensures governments and companies across the region can store their data in our data center with the assurance that their own privacy and cybersecurity and other legal rules and protections will continue to be applied.

This is just one example of the type of partnership and innovation and regulatory involvement that is required in order to be able to really drive this next generation of infrastructure.

To close, I’m incredibly optimistic about our collective opportunity, and I’m looking forward to working together in helping people and organizations around the world as they apply this new generation of technology to grow and thrive.

By Satya Nadella,

Microsoft Chairman and CEO