Databricks Inc, will substantially raise the number of people it hires and invest more than $250 million in India within three years to promote artificial intelligence innovation. The development follows a trend among Western technology and AI firms to increase their footprint in the country.

The San Francisco-headquartered firm, which is one of the world's most valuable privately held technology companies, plans to increase its Indian staff by over 50%, to around 750 employees, at the end of the fiscal year. This hiring plan features doubling the size of engineers at its new Bangalore research center to over 200.

This expansion will increase Databricks' chain of research and development facilities, which already counts offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Mountain View, California. Databricks was established in 2013 and is an expert in data aggregation, analysis, and data distribution software—an important space behind the expansion of AI models, tools, and services.

"India is becoming a world-leading hub for AI talent," said Rochana Golani, vice president of learning and enablement at Databricks.

Previously this year, the firm raised more than $15 billion in equity and debt financing from several sources, such as Meta Platforms Inc., as well as a handful of lenders and investment units from Singapore and Qatar. Now worth $62 billion, Databricks has not yet sought an initial public offering.

Moreover, Databricks aims to set up an AI and data academy in India and train half a million partners and customers in the next three years.