New Delhi, Dec. 23 -- Indian IT services firm HCLTech has joined Microsoft Discovery, an advanced agentic AI platform aimed at accelerating scientific research and innovation, marking a deeper collaboration between the Indian IT major and the US software giant in high-end R&D services.
As part of the engagement, HCLTech will undergo deep technical onboarding with Microsoft's Discovery team to align platform architecture, collaboration models and explore joint go-to-market opportunities. Following this, the company will participate in projects focused on accelerating solutions across chemistry and materials science, drug discovery and semiconductor design, leveraging its engineering and domain expertise across industries.
Microsoft Discovery is designed to help R&D teams conduct large-scale data processing and simulations, automate workflows and speed up scientific experimentation to address complex global challenges. HCLTech's participation is expected to extend these capabilities to enterprise-scale use cases through collaborative proofs of concept, co-innovation labs and industry-specific implementations.
Through the Discovery initiative, HCLTech joins a select group of research institutions and technology innovators working on next-generation scientific and industrial breakthroughs.
"HCLTech is a natural choice to help expand the Microsoft Discovery platform and the development of sustainable, innovative solutions," said Aseem Datar, corporate vice-president, product innovation, Microsoft Discovery and Quantum. "We look forward to building on our shared success and uncovering the next generation of transformative technologies together."
Hari Sadarahalli, corporate vice-president, engineering R&D services at HCLTech, said the collaboration reflects the company's focus on advancing AI-led innovation with global partners. "By combining our deep domain expertise and cloud-based computing services with Microsoft's enterprise-ready platform, we will accelerate scientific breakthroughs and deliver faster innovation across industries to our clients," he said.
The move comes as global technology services firms increasingly position agentic AI and advanced simulation platforms as the next growth frontier, particularly in sectors such as life sciences, advanced manufacturing and semiconductors, where AI-led discovery can significantly shorten innovation cycles.
Last week, HCLTech signed an agreement to acquire the Telco Solutions business from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), strengthening its enterprise technology capabilities for global communication service providers. The transaction builds on a 2024 deal in which HCLTech acquired select assets from HPE's Communications Technology Group.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.