BENGALURU: Australian data center operator AirTrunk has earmarked $30 billion to develop 5 GW of data center capacity in India by 2030, marking one of the largest investments in the country’s digital infrastructure sector and positioning India as a major hub for global spending on artificial intelligence and cloud infrastructure.This investment is expected to significantly boost India’s AI ambitions, as governments and companies around the world race to build the next generation of AI and cloud infrastructure.AirTrunk, backed by Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), entered India earlier this year through the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra. The deal brings a 600 MW development pipeline across Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad, giving the company a strategic foothold in one of the world’s fastest growing data center markets.“Capital is mobile, and India is creating the conditions for it to flourish,” said Robin Khoda, Founder and CEO, AirTrunk. “India is taking a top-down approach to AI with clear government-led initiatives, a world-class talent pool and massive availability of renewable energy. We have heard a clear message that India is open to investment and determined to compete on the next generation of AI and cloud infrastructure that will change India’s industries and economy for generations to come.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the investment will strengthen India’s position as a global hub for cloud computing and artificial intelligence. “Such investments will strengthen India’s position as a global hub for cloud computing and artificial intelligence, while generating employment, supporting domestic supply chains and accelerating innovation-led growth,” Modi said in a post on X.Tarun Pathak, research director at technology research firm Counterpoint Research, said the investment underscores India’s growing importance in the global AI infrastructure landscape.
“This strongly underscores India’s ability to attract the next wave of AI infrastructure spending. AI workloads require unprecedented levels of compute, power and policy support, and India is steadily building the foundations for this,” he said.India currently accounts for only about 3% of global data center capacity, but this footprint could expand about tenfold by 2030, driven by growing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud services, Pathak added.
“India is increasingly seen as a safe haven for digital infrastructure investments amid geopolitical uncertainty,” he said.The AirTrunk announcement comes amid a wave of large-scale investments in artificial intelligence and data centers in India. Earlier this year, Adani Group unveiled plans to invest $100 billion in large-scale, AI-ready data centers powered by renewable energy by 2035. The group said the initiative could catalyze an additional $150 billion in investments across server manufacturing, electrical infrastructure, sovereign cloud platforms and related sectors, creating an AI infrastructure ecosystem worth $250 billion over the next decade.