Amazon Web Services bets big on India's talent in the global AI race

Amazon Web Services is investing $12.7 billion in India, banking on its developer base and infrastructure to shape the future of artificial general intelligence

With artificial general intelligence (AGI) inching closer and the US locked in a high-stakes tech rivalry with China, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is making a bold but quiet move — and India is an important part.

 

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is betting big on India, as the country aims to become a major force in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race. It is making investments into infrastructure (infra) that could help shape who controls the computing backbone of tomorrow’s most advanced AI systems.

 

In 2023, the company announced investment of $12.7 billion through 2030 for building its cloud infrastructure and AI--this represents one of the largest foreign tech investments in the country. 

  The bet comes at a pivotal moment. 

 

Amid growing concerns in the US about lagging behind China in AI development — and as tech leaders like Sam Altman predict AGI could arrive within years — AWS is building Cloud infra across India’s tech hubs that could power the next generation of AI breakthroughs. 

 

“You need all these investments in computer infra to power those future developments in a big way,” said Swami Sivasubramanian, vice-president, AWS Agentic AI, and, until recently, a key advisor to the White House on AI competitiveness. “We are in an unprecedented time when it comes to AI, in terms of what it is able to do,” said Sivasubramanian, who was on a visit to India.

 

He sees India’s millions of developers as a strategic asset. “The Indian developer community is one of the most vibrant communities,” said Sivasubramanian. “Indian builders are incredibly passionate, curious, and excited to embrace new technologies.”

 

The stakes go far beyond corporate profits. AGI — AI systems that can outperform humans across cognitive tasks — could redefine national power in the decades ahead.

 

Alongside its infrastructure push, AWS has trained over 5.9 million people in India in Cloud skills — part of a global effort that has reached more than 31 million, surpassing its 2025 goal ahead of schedule.

 

“AWS has been working with Indian companies and startups a lot, and we are seeing a huge opportunity in the India region,” said Sivasubramanian. 

 

The tech has evolved rapidly, from basic chatbots to autonomous systems capable of complex planning. “The bigger challenge in the coming years is going to be: how do you leverage these intelligent models and AI agents to do things in a reliable, secure, and trustworthy manner?” he asked.

 

AWS is investing in tools like Amazon Bedrock AgentCore and Amazon Nova, along with “all the sufficient guardrails and policy” to support responsible AI use.

 

Autonomous agents

 

AWS competes with players like Microsoft, Google Cloud, and OpenAI. It’s betting that the next phase of AI won’t be about chatbots answering questions, but autonomous agents that can troubleshoot manufacturing problems, handle financial operations, and transform entire business workflows as companies race to prepare their workforce. Sivasubramanian says the tech has moved beyond the demonstration phase and is now delivering measurable results.

 

Apollo Tyres built a custom AI tool using Amazon Bedrock to automate root-cause analysis in its factories. The ‘Manufacturing Reasoner’ cuts troubleshooting time for curing presses from up to seven hours to under 10 minutes, reducing engineering effort by roughly 88 per cent.

 

Stockbroking startup Dhan, which has about 3 million users, worked with AWS to test AI-driven software development tools. Its teams built and deployed six core modules of a new customer-facing tool in just 48 hours — a process originally slated to take two months. 

 

Cloud observability startup Amnic is using AWS services to help businesses track and optimise Cloud spending. Its new agentic AI tool, Amnic AI, automates over 30 per cent of daily FinOps (short for Cloud financial operations) tasks, cutting manual work by up to three hours a day. “From our point of view, we’re excited to support these companies in a big way, because they have the potential to become the next wave of unicorns — innovations that will meaningfully impact our lives,” he said.

 

AI is projected to add nearly $1 trillion to India’s economy by 2035, contributing around 10 per cent towards the country’s goal of reaching a $5 trillion gross domestic product, according to experts.

 

Sivasubramanian also underscored the need for developers — not just in Big Tech firms but also in small businesses — to learn AI skills and become AI-native. The aim is to engage with 2.7 million students and early-career professionals globally within the first year.

 

“What is going to be super important is that everybody becomes AI-ready. Otherwise, humans who are AI-skilled are going to be more competitively positioned than people who do not leverage AI naturally in how they do things,” he said.