Microsoft’s move to change its base essentially wiped out its entire AI team in China. Microsoft has been pursuing a strategy of “de-Sinicization and gradual Indianization” in recent years, representing the biggest change since Satya Nadella, the Indian-born CEO, took the helm. Microsoft China’s core team now numbers less than 1,500, a significant decrease from its peak of nearly 3,500. Including outsourcing companies MicroPort and Pactera, Microsoft’s ecosystem in China at its peak reached 30,000 employees, the source of Microsoft’s claim of creating 30,000 jobs, but this doesn’t mean Microsoft China actually has 30,000 employees.

Conversely, Microsoft continues to invest heavily in India, currently operating three R&D centers. The Hyderabad R&D Center, Microsoft’s first and largest overseas R&D center in India, employs over 10,000 people and focuses on core businesses such as Azure, AI and machine learning, and Office and Windows component development. This is Nadella’s hometown, and its scale has been continuously expanding in recent years. The Bangalore Technology Center primarily focuses on the development of SQL Server databases, Visual Studio, GitHub, and other developer tools. The third R&D center, located in Noida, is also positioned as a “world-class R&D center” and will continue to expand to several thousand people, covering core business areas such as AI research and Azure infrastructure construction.

It can be seen that Microsoft’s R&D team in India covers many of Microsoft’s core businesses, including AI, cloud computing, operating systems, databases, integrated development environments, and office software. According to statistics, Microsoft’s team in India has reached 22,000 people, second only to its headquarters in the United States, almost ten times the size of Microsoft China, and continues to expand.