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The hyperscaler continues to double down on AI infrastructure while also making overtures to the incoming Trump administration to keep regulation to a minimum
In a blog post titled on Friday titled ‘The Golden Opportunity for American, Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith confirmed that the company is “on track to invest approximately $80 billion to build out AI-enabled datacenters” in 2025.
These data centres, Smith says, will be crucial to training new and more sophisticated AI models, as well as deploying AI a cloud-based applications for customers globally.
Exactly how this gargantuan amount of money will be invested was not revealed, though Smith explained that over half of the funds will be spent the US itself, reflecting Microsoft’s “commitment to this country and our confidence in the American economy.”
Microsoft has been aggressively expanding its infrastructure investment in recent years, aiming to meet the surge in demand for cloud and AI services. In the 2024 financial year ending last June, Microsoft recorded $55.7 billion in capital expenditure, the lion’s share of which was used to further expand its data centre empire. This already represented a huge increase on its 2023 expenditure of $31.9 billion.
Smith highlighted the enormous ecosystem of chip suppliers, applications companies, systems integrators, service providers, software developers, and data centre construction firms that together make the technology sector “an economic backbone” for the US economy.
Of course, for these enormous investments to prove profitable in the long term, Microsoft will need the adoption of AI across the country to increase rapidly. As a result, it should come as little surprise that the second major talking point on Smith’s list was the prioritisation of AI-related digital skills. He spoke extensively about rapidly integrating AI education at a curricular level and in the nation’s workforce, something Smith describes as “a necessity for the nation”.
“AI offers not only new tools for people’s work but also new ways to help people learn almost anything. We have the opportunity as a country to equip all Americans with the skills needed to use AI to pursue higher-paying jobs and more successful careers. This should be our national north star,” he added.
Finally, Smith also took the opportunity to lobby the incoming Trump government for a favourable regulatory environment, leaning heavily on the US’s ever-growing tech rivalry with China.
“The most important priority for the U.S. Government won’t be to match Chinese subsidies with American public spending, although there may be some parts of the developing world where development banks and foreign aid may have a role to play. Instead, the most important U.S. public policy priority should be to ensure that the U.S. private sector can continue to advance with the wind at its back. The United States cannot afford to slow its own private sector with heavy-handed regulations,” said Smith.
“The United States is in a strong position to win the essential race with China by advancing international adoption of American AI. American products are more trusted than their Chinese counterparts, and our private sector is unmatched in its ability to invest in infrastructure around the world. With a balanced and common-sense approach to export control policy, the United States can solidify the diplomatic relations that will be critical to global AI adoption.”
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