Microsoft (MS) announced a plan to invest approximately $80 billion (approximately KRW 117.76 trillion) in building data centers in fiscal year 2025 (July 2024 to June 2025). This is seen as a strategic move by MS to secure global leadership in the artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud services sectors.
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▲[Korea Today] Microsoft Vice President Brad Smith speaking at the Reuters Newsmaker event. |
Brad Smith, MS Vice President, announced on January 3 (local time) that more than half of this amount will be executed in the United States. This is interpreted as a will to directly contribute to the US economy to strengthen AI competitiveness. Smith emphasized that through such large-scale investment, MS will establish itself as a global leader in AI technology development and data center expansion.
This announcement by MS is a huge amount, accounting for about 38% of the total capital expenditure of major big tech companies around the world in 2024, which is $209 billion (about 307.65 trillion won). In particular, MS is already investing a huge amount of money to expand AI technology and data center infrastructure, and plans to further strengthen its competitiveness in this field with this investment.
A significant portion of Microsoft’s data center investment will be invested in the ‘Stargate Project’ to support OpenAI’s development of artificial general intelligence (AGI). Microsoft plans to invest $100 billion in this project by 2030. This is a strategy to strengthen cooperation with OpenAI and maintain a lead in the development of next-generation AI technology.
A significant part of MS’s capital expenditure is the purchase of GPUs and expansion of server infrastructure. MS is the largest customer of GPUs, which are essential for training AI models and operating data centers, and it is known that MS has purchased about 20% of the GPUs produced by Nvidia. This is more than twice the amount of competitors. Through this, MS aims to increase the efficiency of AI technology and secure differentiated competitiveness in data processing and cloud services.
Last October, MS announced that it had introduced the world’s first ‘Blackwell’ server, boasting that it was also ahead of the curve in technological innovation.
Vice Chairman Smith also delivered a message to the U.S. government ahead of the Trump administration’s inauguration. He said, “China is subsidizing AI chips for developing countries and promoting the standardization of its own AI platform,” and urged, “In order for the U.S. to stay ahead in the global AI race, the government and private sector must work together to respond quickly.”
It is building a global infrastructure network by establishing or expanding data centers in various regions including the European Union (EU), Japan, the Middle East, India, and Southeast Asia. However, some countries are restricting MS’s expansion due to monopoly issues and relations with China, so this announcement appears to be a strategic response to these external challenges.
To increase the sustainability of its data center operations, MS has set a plan to use 100% renewable energy by 2025 and achieve ‘water positive’ and ‘zero waste’ goals by 2030. Through this, MS is demonstrating its will to minimize the environmental impact of data center expansion and build sustainable technology infrastructure.
This $80 billion investment appears to be a key strategy for MS to solidify its global leadership in AI and cloud services. AI technology and data center infrastructure expansion are expected to be key drivers of MS’s future growth. Attention is being paid to what impact MS’s large-scale investment will have on the global technology industry.
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