Microsoft is set to double down on its generative artificial intelligence efforts in 2025 following the company's Vice Chair and President, Brad Smith's recent announcement of the tech giant's plans to invest up to $80 billion in building data centers.

Over half of the investment is reserved for infrastructure. Microsoft President Brad Smith frames AI investment as key to economic growth.

The first phase alone of Microsoft’s data center in Mount Pleasant will likely require the same amount of electricity needed to power more than 300,000 homes, according to new information obtained by the Journal Sentinel. Put into context, the City of Milwaukee has around 262,000 housing units.

For this reason, a Microsoft executive is urging the US government to take action to prevent China from taking the lead in AI, as Huawei did with 5G. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s Vice Chairman and President,

Microsoft president Brad Smith on Friday said the company is on track to pump about $80 billion into artificial intelligence (AI) this fiscal year. For its part, Microsoft is on pace to invest about $80 billion this year to build out AI datacenters,

While Microsoft is thinking on a global scale, the company's Vice Chair and President said more than half of this total investment will be in the US

Microsoft's President Brad Smith emphasises a national strategy for the US to lead in AI, focusing on R&D funding, education, and relaxed regulations.

The United States needs an overarching national strategy to ensure it prevails in the global AI race — focusing on R&D funding, education, and workforce development, and ensuring that American tech companies aren't slowed down by "heavy-handed regulations,

Microsoft is one of the biggest spenders, followed closely by Google and AWS, Bloomberg Intelligence said. Its estimate of Microsoft’s capital spending on AI, at $62.4 billion for calendar 2025, is lower than Smith’s claim that the company will invest $80 billion in the fiscal year to June 30, 2025.

Over half of Microsoft’s $80 billion in spending will take place in the U.S., Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith wrote in a Friday blog post.

Microsoft has doubled down on its plan to invest $80 billion into artificial technologies in 2025, while at the same time admitting that advancements to the technology will lead to job losses. This was always expected to be the case in some sectors, but Microsoft is now coming out and saying it directly.