Mexico – During his speech at the Microsoft AI Tour 2024 in Mexico City, President and CEO Satya Nadella announced that Microsoft Corporation is reaffirming its commitment to the country. He revealed a new investment of $1.3 billion over the next three years to improve AI infrastructure and initiatives to promote digital and AI skills. This includes the Artificial Intelligence National Skills program, which aims to democratize access to AI skills and reach 5 million people. The investment will also aim to improve connectivity and encourage the adoption of AI by small and medium enterprises to accelerate their digital transformation and business operations in the country.
Microsoft reaches 38 years of presence in Mexico by seizing a pivotal opportunity driven by technology and artificial intelligence. With a long-standing commitment to the nation and recognizing the role of AI as a catalyst for social and economic growth, Microsoft is expanding its AI infrastructure in Mexico. This involves significant investment to increase local IT capacity and encourage innovation.
“We are entering a new era of AI with the promise of creating inclusive economic growth and opportunity across all roles, sectors and countries, including Mexico,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft Chairman and CEO. “Our investments in AI infrastructure and skills in Mexico will help ensure that people and organizations across the country realize the benefits of this technological shift.”
Expansion of AI infrastructure in Mexico and innovation for the Mexican AI ecosystem
Microsoft strengthens its commitment to the continued economic and social development of Mexico, highlighting the role of AI as a fundamental technology with transformative capacity to help solve societal problems, improve human productivity, cybersecurity , make businesses more competitive and expand social and economic opportunities in the country. .
This infrastructure will operate under from Microsoft Principles of access to AI which were created to foster innovation and healthy competition within the rapidly growing AI economy. They reflect Microsoft’s growing role and responsibility as a leader in AI and commit the company to making investments, forging commercial partnerships, and creating programs ensuring broad access to its AI technology that enable organizations and individuals to develop and use AI in ways that serve their interests. the public good.
Businesses and educational institutions like Bimbo Group, Tec de Monterrey And Cemex are successful examples of AI Adoption in Mexico. Tecnológico de Monterrey has developed Tecgpt, its own platform with Microsoft’s generative AI, to improve the learning process and increase the efficiency and productivity of students, teachers and other employees, being one of the first in the gender in Latin America. Additionally, Cemex implemented Microsoft’s AI solutions that significantly improved productivity and operational efficiency, and transformed various business areas, including sales, production and supply chain, with the introduction of Technical Xpert, an AI-powered co-pilot.
Microsoft’s announcement includes the National Artificial Intelligence Skills Initiativewith the aim of democratizing access to AI skills, by training 5 million people in three years, by partnering with governments, industry, academia and civil society to train users, developers, teachers, organizational leaders and more, at scale. The company is developing a training platform for job seekers and employees, offering resources adapted to the needs of the labor market. Given the rise of generative AI in everyday work, we will focus on this area to make it accessible to everyone and integrated into the daily tasks of any job. This involves helping small and medium-sized businesses understand the AI capabilities their employees need to be successful and productive.
According to a Microsoft study: “AI in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: Trends, Challenges and Opportunities in Mexico” in 2023, 57% of SMEs surveyed in Mexico were using AI, mainly to improve operational efficiency, generate data. reasoned decisions and personalize the customer experience. Microsoft is investing in The Bridge Accelerator program to help regional SMEs and prepare them for integration into North American industrial value chains through the implementation of a AI Platform for SMEs (“PyMAI”). This initiative will enable 30,000 SMEs in three years to update their business practices, improve their market competitiveness, increase their exposure to potential customers and prepare them to integrate into cross-border supply networks .
Microsoft will continue to invest in the application of AI, leveraging the AI for Good Programto address health, connectivity and sustainability challenges in Mexico:
- Health Challenges: Retinopathy of prematurity (RoP) is one of the leading preventable causes of childhood blindness, particularly affecting premature babies in the Global South. The shortage of pediatric ophthalmologists makes early diagnosis of RoP difficult. Microsoft AI for Good has developed AI models that run on smartphones, allowing Mexican doctors to effectively diagnose RoP.
- Connectivity: Microsoft and Viasat have expanded their November 2022 collaboration agreement to reach more than 1.45 million people by the end of 2025 in Mexico. This includes activating new networks to bring internet to more than 150,000 Mexicans previously not covered by cellular connectivity. This network expansion comes alongside Viasat’s female-led Mexican Ambassador Program, which partners with local women to help close the digital gender divide. This presence is distributed in thirteen central and southern states (Hidalgo, Puebla, Veracruz, Yucatán, Quintana Roo, Chiapas, Querétaro, Campeche, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Michoacán, Oaxaca and San Luis Potosí). This initiative complements Viasat’s ongoing work with “CFE Internet para Todos”, where Viasat has partnered with CFE in connecting over 1,500 communities across Mexico.
- Sustainability is fundamentally important to Microsoft and is reflected in our ambitious corporate goals to become a carbon negative, water positive, zero waste company that protects ecosystems by 2030. At Microsoft, we design, build and operate a cloud computing infrastructure spanning the entire stack, from data centers to servers to custom silicon. We design, build and operate cloud computing infrastructure, with over 60 data center regions worldwide. This creates unique opportunities to orchestrate how each element can work together to improve both performance, efficiency and sustainability.
Microsoft continues to evaluate and work diligently to address the sustainability and resource needs associated with infrastructure growth. Microsoft has taken a pioneering approach to planning, making long-term investments to bring more carbon-free electricity to the networks where we operate. Our power purchase agreements, or PPAs, are at the center of our approach. Today, we have signed up more than 34 GW of renewable energy in 24 countries, marking progress towards accelerating renewable energy markets and supporting the global energy transition. We continue to advocate for the development of clean energy solutions around the world.
In Mexico, Microsoft is also focused on improving access to clean water and sanitation solutions through our water replenishment projects and ecosystem restoration efforts. To support our goal of being carbon negative by 2030, Microsoft recently signed a 6-year agreement with The Next 150 to remove up to 95,000 tonnes of CO2 from a biochar project in Guanajuato, Mexico. Additionally, in April, Microsoft signed a one-year agreement with Toroto SAPI de CV to eliminate 234,000 tons of CO2 through a forest ecosystem restoration project in the state of Campeche, Mexico. These projects provide benefits beyond carbon removal by supporting local farmers and promoting biodiversity, as Microsoft strives to keep community needs and impact at the heart of our programs.
By driving digitalization and empowering individuals and businesses, Microsoft aims to harness technology as a catalyst for transformation, to navigate the new economy, marked by digital services, AI and data capital. Through these initiatives and investments, Microsoft shows its commitment to propel Mexico to the forefront of this paradigm shift, leveraging infrastructure projects, technological advances, services and, most importantly, development human skills, to fight towards sustainable growth. To achieve this, the company favors responsible innovation, where ethics and sustainability are focused to generate a positive impact on the lives of Mexican citizens, ensuring that the benefits of technology are shared by all, in the expectation of building an inclusive and dynamic future. , and prosperous.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates Microsoft’s confidence and commitment to Mexico to support inclusive economic growth in the country. This investment has already been shared with the new Secretary of Economy, Marcelo Ebrard, to guarantee his support and achieve the greatest impact in our country. Through this, we empower individuals, businesses and society to improve innovation and democratize the use of AI through skills development, knowledge sharing and access to cutting-edge technology and digital infrastructure, while achieving our sustainable development goals,” says Rafael Sánchez. Loza, general manager of Microsoft Mexico.
