Tata Consultancy Services plans up to 8,900 AI deployment engineers, seeks AI acquisitions

Tata Consultancy Services is building a team of up to 8,900 forward-deployed engineers and hunting for AI acquisitions as it bets artificial intelligence will create new business rather than undermine outsourcing, two TCS executives told Reuters.

The strategy emerges amid investor concern that AI could disrupt India’s $315 billion IT services industry by reducing demand for engineering teams, shortening project timelines and squeezing prices as clients seek a ‌share of productivity ⁠gains.

“We would ⁠be … ensuring that we have as many as 1% to 1.5% of our associates who could be what you would call FDEs,” CEO K Krithivasan said in an interview. TCS is India’s largest software services firm.