Databricks to boost hiring, invest $250 million in India for AI expansion
Data analytics firm Databricks said on Thursday it will ramp up hiring and invest more than $250 million in India, doubling down on the country's artificial intelligence talent pool and growing AI investments.
The San Francisco-based company will increase its headcount by over 50 per cent to more than 750 employees in India by the end of the fiscal year, it said in a statement.
The multimillion-dollar investment will support training initiatives, research and development (R&D) as well as go-to-market efforts such as hiring, the company added.
"Our investment in R&D in India, and particularly in Bengaluru, reflects our belief in the extraordinary technical talent found here," said Vinod Marur, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Databricks.
It also plans to hire over 100 R&D engineers at its new research center in Bengaluru, Marur added.
The company has launched a Data + AI Academy in India, aiming to train 500,000 partners and customers over the next three years.
Databricks, founded in 2013, offers a platform designed to help users ingest, analyze and build AI applications using complex data from a variety of sources.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
6 hours ago
- Straits Times
Team boss Vowles signs long-term Williams F1 contract
LONDON - Williams team principal James Vowles has signed a new long-term contract, the former Formula One world champions said on Thursday. Vowles, 45, joined Williams from Mercedes in 2023 and has helped turn around their fortunes with the British-based team fifth overall after 10 of 24 races. Williams, who gave no details about the contract, have scored more points (55) this season with drivers Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon than in the last three combined. Vowles said in a statement the team had "felt like home from the moment I walked through the door." "We are all united in our ambition to build on our legacy and win World Championships again. Over the past two years we have focused on fixing the foundations, and now have a platform to go for glory in the years to come." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
7 hours ago
- Business Times
Trump says he signed executive order extending deadline for TikTok closing
[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (Jun 19) that he has signed an executive order extending the June 19 deadline for China-based ByteDance to divest the US assets of short-video app TikTok for 90 days. 'I've just signed the Executive Order extending the Deadline for the TikTok closing for 90 days (September 17, 2025),' he said in a Truth Social post. Trump had already twice granted a reprieve from enforcement of a congressionally mandated ban on TikTok that was supposed to take effect in January. REUTERS
Straits Times
11 hours ago
- Straits Times
China's 618 shopping festival 2025 sees strong sales and consumer spending fuelled by government subsidies
– China's 618 mid-year shopping festival closed on June 18, following more than a month of promotional events beginning in mid-May, with major e-commerce giants boasting about strong sales in home appliances and electronics during this period. Yet much of 2025's surge in demand came not from renewed consumer confidence, which has in recent years been shaken by a sluggish economy, a weak job market and a property downturn. Instead, it comes from the government-funded goods trade-in programme and national subsidies, raising questions about how sustainable the consumer spending rebound is. Policy support is clearly the core driver in 2025's 618 shopping festival, as reflected in sales data, said Mr Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). 'Every category targeted by subsidies – except cars – posted over 20 per cent sales growth from January to May, while non-subsidised categories, such as apparel and food and beverage, saw much slower growth,' said Mr Xu, referencing data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics on June 16. Smartphones, washing machines and air-conditioners are among the consumer goods that have seen strong sales, as they are covered under a central policy that gives consumers up to 2,000 yuan (S$358) in discounts per item. Started in early 2024, the initiative was expanded in 2025 to cover a wider range of products and is slated to run throughout the year. To further entice customers to buy, e-commerce platforms stacked discounts on top of the government subsidies. Some products ended up 40 per cent to 50 per cent cheaper than their original price tag, while other high-priced products came with a hefty discount. For instance, a Chinese consumer could buy an Apple iPhone 16 Pro, which was included in the national subsidy programme for the first time in 2025 , for 2,500 yuan off its original price on e-commerce platforms after subsidies and discounts. The policy-fuelled spending spree comes at a time when Beijing is seeking to expand domestic consumption as its top economic priority in 2025, as the nation braces itself for a prolonged trade war with the United States. To finance the subsidy programme, Beijing doubled the amount of ultra-long special sovereign bonds to 300 billion yuan in 2025, compared with the year before. Ms MingYii Lai, a strategy consultant at Shanghai-based market research firm Daxue Consulting, said the 618 sales spike is not a reflection of organic optimism among consumers. She noted that there are many examples on Chinese social media showing how people are rushing to buy electrical appliances before home renovations are even finished, or that consumers are reluctant to purchase without subsidies or heavy discounts. 'These show that purchases were supported by the sentiment to exploit subsidies rather than discretionary spending,' she said. A performance at JD Mall in Beijing, as part of the 618 shopping festival activities on June 18. ST PHOTO: MICHELLE NG At around 2pm on June 18, a newly opened JD Mall in Beijing's Shuangjing district was lively with a steady flow of shoppers out to get a good deal on appliances and electronics, in which the mall specialises. Others were drawn to the air-conditioned mall to seek respite from the summer heat or for the 618 festival's fringe activities aimed at increasing footfall, such as a meet-and-greet session with Chinese pop singer Huang Ying, in the mall's atrium. Shopper Li Qiang, 30, who was out shopping for a robot vacuum cleaner, told The Straits Times that he had just days ago traded in his old Xiaomi smartphone for a OnePlus smartphone, a Chinese sister brand to Oppo. 'The original price was 4,500 yuan, but there were so many discounts you could stack on, I can't even remember exactly how much I paid. I just know that it's the cheapest to buy now,' said the Hebei native, who works for a logistics company in Beijing. 'Honestly, I'm not too worried about spending money because the fact that our government can still give out subsidies even when the US-China trade war is going on shows that our country is strong,' he added. A washing machine promoter, Mr Li Mingzhou, 35, at Chinese home appliance brand Casarte, said he had a busy morning, having sold about 30 units since the store opened. He hoped to clock another 30 to 40 deals later that day, as he expected the crowd to thin out in the days ahead after the promotion period ends. 'There are also rumours that the government may stop the subsidies soon as the funds are drying up, so in the last few days, people were rushing in to buy the appliances they need,' he said. A coffee bean appreciation pop-up workshop as part of the 618 shopping festival activities at JD Mall in Beijing on June 18. ST PHOTO: MICHELLE NG In the past two weeks, there have been reports of local governments in Chongqing city and Henan province suspending the subsidies temporarily because of insufficient funds. Other provinces such as Jiangsu and Guangdong have started imposing a daily quota on the number of such subsidies distributed. To calm the online chatter, Chinese state media on June 18 reported that just over half of the total of the 300 billion yuan has been distributed and that the central government will issue the rest of its funds in an orderly manner and will guide local governments to use the funds at a stable pace. Originally a single-day celebration to mark the founding of e-commerce company on June 18, 1998, the 618 festival has now been expanded to include all e-commerce platforms and has seen increasingly longer promotional periods. It is now one of China's biggest consumption events alongside Singles' Day on Nov 11. A live-stream host selling products online at JD Mall in Beijing on June 18. ST PHOTO: MICHELLE NG , now China's largest retailer, said that the number of customers placing orders across its online, offline and food delivery platforms for the 618 festival surpassed 2.2 billion, which is more than double the previous year. Another e-commerce giant, Alibaba, said 453 brands on its Tmall platform exceeded 100 million yuan in sales value, a 24 per cent increase from the year before. Both companies have not disclosed overall sales figures in recent years. Analysts said while the consumption figures for 2025's 618 festival look positive, the momentum might not be sustainable and Beijing will need to come up with more endurable measures to ensure economic recovery for the longer haul. A note from Japanese investment bank Nomura on June 16 said that while retail sales performed well above market expectations in May, it expects the boost from the trade-in programme to fade in the second half of the year. EIU's Mr Xu said the Chinese government, if it intends to continue with the subsidy scheme, should consider broadening the scope of the support beyond durable goods. This could come in the form of more universal consumption vouchers, covering anything from food and tourism to clothes and massages, which would be 'more market-driven and flexible', he said. Said Mr Xu: 'Services spending occurs at a much higher frequency – you don't buy a car every year but most people dine out every few days – and frontloading of consumption is less of a problem.' Michelle Ng is China correspondent at The Straits Times. She is interested in Chinese foreign policies, property trends, demographics, education and rural issues. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
