Reliance, Brookfield Asset Management to invest $11B to build AI data center in India

Digital Connexion, the joint venture between Reliance Industries Ltd., Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., and Digital Realty Trust Inc., has announced a significant expansion into India’s fast-growing data center industry. The company signed an agreement to invest $11 billion by 2030 to build a large-scale data center campus in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, a move that underscores rising competition among global tech and infrastructure players racing to secure capacity for artificial intelligence computing.The memorandum of understanding was signed with the Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board, enabling the development of what Digital Connexion described as an AI-native data center campus. The project will cover 400 acres (1.6187 square kilometers) and deliver up to 1 gigawatt of computing capacity, positioning the facility among the largest of its kind announced in India to date.India becomes a major magnet for AI-driven infrastructure capitalThe scale of the proposed investment reflects a broader shift in global capital flows, with governments and technology giants committing unprecedented funds toward high-performance compute infrastructure. Trillions of dollars are being deployed worldwide to build storage, networking, and power-intensive data hubs capable of supporting AI workloads, accelerated cloud adoption, and growing digital public services.India has quickly emerged as one of the leading destinations for this wave of capital due to its expanding digital economy, large enterprise market, and increasingly supportive regulatory environment. Visakhapatnam, in particular, is gaining momentum as a hub for hyperscale infrastructure development.Last month, Alphabet Inc.’s Google revealed plans to invest roughly $15 billion over five years to establish its own AI-focused data center network in the region. The new investment by Digital Connexion adds further weight to the city’s growing status as a strategic technology corridor.Global players accelerate commitments to the Indian cloud marketThe arrival of Reliance’s data infrastructure arm joins a rapidly expanding list of multinational corporations deepening their presence in India. Amazon.com Inc. is targeting $12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure spending in the country by 2030, reinforcing its position as one of the largest global hyperscalers operating in India.Meanwhile, OpenAI—creator of ChatGPT—is pursuing plans to build a 1 gigawatt data center locally, while Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. recently secured $1 billion in capital from TPG Inc. to expand its AI data center footprint. The momentum signals not only an infrastructure build-out, but also a diversification of participants entering the data-center-as-a-service sector.Consultancy estimates reflect the magnitude of this shift. According to CBRE Group Inc., investment in India’s data center market is projected to exceed $100 billion by 2027, underpinned by demand for cloud services, enterprise AI integration, and national digital connectivity projects.A long-horizon bet on AI-compute growthDigital Connexion’s proposed 1-gigawatt Visakhapatnam campus represents a long-term commitment to scaling India’s compute capacity as AI adoption accelerates globally. While execution will play out through the remainder of the decade, the project places the Reliance-Brookfield-Digital Realty joint venture firmly among the front-runners in India’s infrastructure race.As capital continues to converge on India’s data growth story, the sector is set to remain a focal point for large-scale technology investment over the years ahead.The post Reliance, Brookfield Asset Management to invest $11B to build AI data center in India appeared first on Invezz