The Adani Group has outlined an ambitious plan to invest an additional $10 billion in India’s data center infrastructure, aiming to meet the growing demand generated by artificial intelligence (AI) applications and business process outsourcing. This planned expansion aligns with Adani’s larger strategy to strengthen its presence in the data-driven future.
The group is considering sites across various Indian states, including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu, intending to establish two major data centers, each anticipated to provide around 1 gigawatt of capacity. Over time, Adani plans to achieve a total data center capacity of 10 gigawatts.
Collaborations with foreign governments through intergovernmental agreements are also on the agenda, aiding land acquisition efforts crucial for this expansion. This initiative follows a previous announcement in September 2024 when Adani declared a $4 billion investment into their data center business. The expansion is spearheaded by Adani ConneX, a joint venture with EdgeConneX. This earlier investment focused on enhancing their infrastructure capacity from 17 megawatts to between 1 to 1.5 gigawatts within a couple of years.
The data center industry in India is increasingly embracing smaller cities. Vipul Kumar, VP at CtrlS Datacenters, highlighted in a blog post that the shift to Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities is fueled by rising digital service demands, reduced latency needs, and the growth of edge computing accompanied by favorable government policies. These smaller towns, attractive due to lower real estate, energy, and labor costs, are witnessing investments from companies like CtrlS in cities such as Patna and Lucknow.
In addition, government initiatives are encouraging this transformation, supporting data center expansion into less centralized locations. For instance, RailTel is setting up edge data centers at multiple railway sites, complemented by state-level incentives offering subsidies and dual power supplies.