AirTrunk commits $30B to build 5GW of AI data centers in India

Blackstone-backed data center operator AirTrunk said on Thursday it would invest $30 billion in India by 2030, adding to a wave of commitments from technology and infrastructure groups seeking to expand computing capacity in the country.

The Australian company said it would develop 5 gigawatts of new data center capacity in India, one of the largest commitments to the South Asian nation’s digital infrastructure sector. AirTrunk entered India earlier this year through the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra.

AirTrunk’s commitment underlines India’s growing appeal as a destination for AI infrastructure, as tech companies and investors seek new geographies to expand computing capacity. Data center capacity in the country is projected to rise to as much as 8GW by 2030 from about 1.5GW today, according to research firm Bernstein.

The Indian government has also taken steps to attract investment in AI infrastructure. Earlier this year, New Delhi offered foreign cloud providers tax exemptions through 2047 on services sold overseas if those workloads are run from Indian data centers.

AirTrunk has already begun laying the groundwork for its expansion in the country. Earlier this week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in a post on X that the western Indian state had exchanged a letter of intent for land allotment at the Raigad Pen Growth Center, where AirTrunk is planning a 3GW data center involving an investment of about ₹2 trillion (around $21 billion). The company already has a development pipeline of about 600MW across Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.

AirTrunk did not respond to questions on whether the proposed Raigad project would account for most of the planned 5GW capacity, or whether it plans to make additional developments elsewhere in India.

The announcement follows a meeting between AirTrunk CEO Robin Khuda and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who said in a post on X that the planned investment would help strengthen India’s position as a global hub for cloud computing and artificial intelligence.

AirTrunk joins a growing list of companies investing in infrastructure in the country. Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber have announced major investments in cloud and AI infrastructure, while Indian companies Reliance Industries, Adani Group, and TCS have laid out ambitious plans to expand data center capacity.

However, data centers require vast amounts of electricity, water and land, and industry executives and analysts have pointed to resource issues as a potential bottleneck, particularly regarding power.

Deloitte estimates data center build-outs in the Asia Pacific could require tens of terawatt-hours of additional electricity by the end of the decade.

AirTrunk’s investment thesis is underpinned by government support, a large pool of technical talent, and access to renewable energy, Khuda said.

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