Jan 3 (Reuters) - Microsoft ( MSFT ) is planning to

spend about $80 billion in fiscal 2025 to build data centers to

train artificial intelligence (AI) models and deploy AI and

cloud-based applications, the company said in a blog post on

Friday.

More than half of the total investment will be in the United

States, Microsoft ( MSFT ) Vice Chair and President Brad Smith said in

the blog post.

"Today, the United States leads the global AI race thanks to

the investment of private capital and innovations by American

companies of all sizes, from dynamic start-ups to

well-established enterprises," Smith said.

The tech giant's capital expenditure rose 5.3% to $20

billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by

Shinjini Ganguli)