VIJAYAWADA: IT and Human Resources Minister Nara Lokesh met Indian-origin business leaders, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, and Apple Vice-President (operations) Priya Balasubramaniam, as he sought US investments in areas ranging from Artificial Intelligence to manufacturing, agritech and e-governance.
Inviting Nadella to Andhra Pradesh, he sought Microsoft’s cooperation in improving e-governance and establishing IT hubs in the State.
It may be pointed out that Nadella’s father was an IAS officer and held several official positions in the State.
During the meeting at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, US, Satya Nadella highlighted that the company has been a global leader in software, cloud computing and enterprise technology. As of October this year, Microsoft has a market cap of 3.1 trillion dollars, he said, adding that in financial year 2023, it earned a record profit of 211.9 million dollars.
Pointing out that Hyderabad was transformed into an IT hub under the leadership of N Chandrababu Naidu, Lokesh explained to Nadella that the State government, with Naidu at the helm, was taking steps to position Andhra Pradesh as the IT capital. As part of the programme, the Minister explained, new IT hubs and innovation parks would be established in the State.
Asserting that Andhra Pradesh will be transformed into a regional centre for global institutes in cloud infrastructure and data centres, Lokesh emphasised that the State has all the necessary facilities and opportunities for such centres.
Stating that Andhra Pradesh has a strong academic record for generating the best talented youth in IT and engineering, he requested Microsoft to support the State in improving e-governance to develop smart city programmes. He also informed Nadella that the government is mulling over establishing an AI University in Amaravati.
The Microsoft CEO promised to extend all possible support to promote Andhra Pradesh as the AI capital.
During his meeting with the Adobe CEO in San Francisco, Lokesh urged Shantanu to extend support to the State towards enhancing youngsters’ digital technology skills. He also invited Adobe to establish a research and development (R&D) wing in Andhra Pradesh to become partners in smart governance and Artificial Intelligence-driven solutions.
Decision on investing in AP soon: Adobe
Elaborating on the company’s services, Shantanu said Adobe, with a market cap of Rs 17.9 lakh crore, is a leader in the digital media and cloud-based services space. He said a decision on investing in AP will be taken soon after discussions are held with the company’s partners.
In a meeting with Apple Vice-President (Operations) Priya Balasubramaniam, Lokesh asserted that the skills of youngsters in the State align with the company’s operational standards. In a post on X, he said, “I invited Apple to grow its operations in Andhra Pradesh, where a business-friendly government and policies await them. The GoAP is ready to provide all necessary support and facilities for setting up manufacturing units at their chosen location in AP.”