Microsoft sets up country’s third development centre in Noida

Redmond headquartered Microsoft has unveiled its third India Development Centre (IDC) in Noida.

The new centre will play a critical role in Microsoft India’s expansion and growth story, the company said in a statement.

Microsoft already operates two IDC facilities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. 

The new centre will house Microsoft’s engineering teams across technology groups, including its  AI (artificial intelligence) and research group, cloud and enterprise group, and experience and devices group, along with core services engineering and operations teams. 

It will also house Microsoft’s live streaming gaming platform team Mixer, making the NCR facility the first one outside the company headquarters to host the gaming team, the statement said.

“We are excited to tap into the engineering talent available in this part of the country to create a truly pioneering organisation that will build innovative solutions for global impact,” Rajiv Kumar, managing director for research and development (R&D) in Microsoft India, said.

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India, as a tech talent hub, has been attracting global enterprises, setting up technology centres. A study conducted jointly by Nasscom-Zinnov found that global capability centres run by multinational corporations in India generated $28 billion in value for the financial year ended March 2019. These centres have moved on from being merely delivery centres to value-creation centres, the report added.

In December, Zurich-based reinsurance company Swiss Re announced that it will increase the headcount at its Bengaluru technology centre by 400. The addition will result in the Bengaluru office making up 10% of the Swiss reinsurer’s global workforce by 2021.

In the same month, Wilmerding, Pennsylvania-based rail engineering firm Wabtec Corporation said it will hire more than 400 people for its technology centre in Bengaluru by the end of 2020.

In November last year, information technology services provider Klaus IT Solutions unveiled its new development centre in Bengaluru. 

Sweden's mobile telecom gear maker Ericsson unveiled a global artificial intelligence accelerator (GAIA) facility in the city last year. 

New Jersey, US-based IT firm Ness Digital Engineering recently partnered with credit ratings giant S&P Global to set up a new centre in Hyderabad to expand its software delivery capabilities.

Santa Clara, California headquartered chipmaker Intel is also working on expanding its footprints in India with the launch of a new design and engineering centre in Hyderabad.