Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday announced that AirTrunk, an Asia-Pacific and Middle East technology company, plans to invest more than Rs 3 lakh crore in India and develop 5 GW of data centre capacity by 2030 following his meeting with founder and CEO Robin Khuda.
The leading hyperscale data centre specialist said the investment would support the expansion of India's digital infrastructure and position the country as a cornerstone of its global growth strategy.
"India's digital infrastructure journey is gathering remarkable momentum. AirTrunk has announced plans to invest around Rs 3 lakh crore (USD 30 billion) in India and develop 5 GW of data centre capacity. This is among the largest proposed investments in the country's digital infrastructure ecosystem," Modi said in a post on X.
The prime minister noted that such investments will strengthen India's position as a global hub for cloud computing and AI, while generating employment opportunities, supporting local supply chains and accelerating innovation-led growth. "It is clear that the future of the world's digital economy is increasingly being shaped in India," he said.
AirTrunk is a hyperscale data centre specialist creating a platform for cloud, content and large enterprise customers across the Asia-Pacific and Middle East (APME) region.
AirTrunk CEO Khuda said that Prime Minister Modi's vision for India's digital economy has helped create one of the world's most compelling destinations for technology investment.
"India has the scale, talent, and ambition required to become a global AI powerhouse. AirTrunk is excited to support that vision," he said in a company statement.
Backed by Blackstone - one of the largest foreign investors in India - and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), AirTrunk's proposed investment programme would rank among the largest digital infrastructure initiatives currently being considered in the country and help enable the next wave of growth in cloud and artificial intelligence.
"AirTrunk plans to invest more than INR 3,000 billion (USD 30 billion) in India by 2030 in support of digital infrastructure capacity, positioning the country as a cornerstone of AirTrunk's global growth strategy and one of the company's most significant long-term investment markets," AirTrunk said in its statement.
The company's proposed development pipeline in India, across multiple states and union territories, would support India's ambition to become a global destination for AI and cloud infrastructure investment while generating significant economic activity, employment, and technology ecosystem growth, it said.
The announcement follows AirTrunk CEO Khuda's first senior government engagement programme in India since the company's entry into the market through the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra in April this year.
Through this acquisition, AirTrunk's existing development pipeline in India includes 600 MW across Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad.
The company develops and operates data centre campuses with industry-leading reliability, technology innovation and energy and water efficiency.
Founded in 2015, AirTrunk set up Australia's first and largest hyperscale data centres in 2017, then set its eyes on rapid expansion and now operates a platform of hyperscale data centres across the APME region.
(With inputs from PTI)