Microsoft said on February 18 that it is on track to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to expand access to artificial intelligence (AI) technologies across countries in the “Global South.”

According to a recent report by Reuters, the announcement was made at an AI summit in New Delhi, where senior executives from major technology companies met political leaders to discuss the governance and deployment of emerging AI systems. 

The term “Global South” is commonly used to describe developing, emerging or lower-income nations, many of them located in the southern hemisphere.

Microsoft said the planned spending would support infrastructure, cloud capacity and AI deployment in these markets, though it did not provide a detailed breakdown of the investments by country. Last year, Microsoft unveiled $17.5 billion in AI-related investments in India.