Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella during the company’s Ignite Spotlight event in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022. Nadella delivered the keynote address at an event organized by the company’s Korean unit. Photographer: Seongjoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Seongjoon Cho | Bloomberg | Getty Images
CEO of Microsoft says it is excited about Asia, especially China and India, as Microsoft plans to build more data centers around the world.
“Absolutely. We’re very excited about what’s happening in Asia,” Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella told CNBC’s Tanveer Gill in an interview on Thursday. Microsoft is investing in at least 11 areas.
“We are fully committed to all these countries and China as well. Today, we mainly work to support multinationals that operate in China and multinationals based out of China.”
He also said that India has been a “massive growth market” since emerging from the pandemic.
“Microsoft’s presence in India was mostly about multinational companies operating in India. But for now, that has completely changed,” he said.
“It’s upside down where these companies that are innovating in India, be it large conglomerates, or new startups, all are using [artificial intelligence] Cloud technology has been able to innovate and made services clearly popular in India and elsewhere,” he told CNBC.
Microsoft had earlier told Indian media outlet Economic Times that there is a huge demand for new native cloud application development in India.
tech layoffs
As the US tech giant faces massive layoffs, Nadella said he was optimistic about the labor market there.
Microsoft announced a round of layoffs in October affecting less than 1% of its workforce. Meanwhile, Meta is laying off 11,000 employees, while Snap is laying off more than 1,000 people.
“The current labor market is more flexible,” Nadella said.
He said that no industry is immune from macroeconomic issues. “So everybody has to manage the cost and the demand properly,” he said.
“One of the attractive things about America is the amount of capital that is being invested,” he said, adding that new industrial infrastructure is being built such as manufacturing plants, power plants and battery factories.
“I’m more focused on seeing what’s happening inside the United States in terms of new growth. So I’m very optimistic about the US and the world.”
Nadella replaced billionaire Steve Ballmer as Microsoft’s CEO in 2014. Prior to this, Nadella was the executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and Enterprise group.
Microsoft shares were at $241.73 in after-hours trading. Shares have declined 27.8% year-to-date.
– This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
