Adani Enterprises on Tuesday said it will invest $100 billion in building AI-enabled data centers powered by renewable energy by 2035, positioning India as a contender in the global AI race.
Spending on big-ticket AI infrastructure is surging in India, with global companies like Google, Amazon, Meta Platforms, and Microsoft stepping up investment, along with domestic players like Reliance and TCS.
“AI-enabled data centers will be the critical nerve center of an AI-driven environment, and it makes sense for large groups with deep pockets to set up such data centers to prepare for the future,” said independent market analyst Ambaresh Baliga.
He added that top companies, including Reliance and Adani Group, are moving quickly to seize vast opportunities as businesses respond to what is seen as the next major disruptor.
Adani said the investment is expected to generate an additional $150 billion in investments across related industries such as server manufacturing and sovereign cloud platforms. Combined, India is expected to build a $250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in 10 years.
Adani Enterprises stock closed 2.7% higher, the top gainer in the benchmark Nifty 50 index.
Indian AI boom
Data centers, which have so far been on the fringes of the AI boom due to a lack of significant chip manufacturing capacity, represent India’s biggest chance to make its mark on the world stage.
Adani said the investment will develop a model that connects renewable energy, grid resiliency and AI computing.
“We have been importing technology for decades. We are now building the backbone,” Chairman Gautam Adani said in a post on X.
“India will not follow the century of AI. India will shape the century of AI.”
The port power conglomerate said it would build on its existing 2 gigawatts of data center capacity and expand it to 5 gigawatts, creating the world’s largest integrated data center platform, without disclosing a timeline.
Additionally, Adani will invest $55 billion to expand its renewable energy portfolio, which will include one of the world’s largest battery energy storage systems.
AI partnership
Adani has an existing partnership with Google, which has committed to investing $15 billion over five years to build AI data centers, the company’s largest investment in its history in India.
The company announced on Tuesday that it will expand its existing partnership with Walmart-backed Flipkart to develop a second AI data center.
The company also said it was in talks with other major companies to set up large-scale campuses across India, but did not provide details.
(Reporting by Uruvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Writing by Abhinaya Vijayaraghavan; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
