As the world races to harness the power of artificial intelligence, a new kind of war is beginning to unfold over AI infrastructure.

With the $254.5 Bn market for AI accelerating at 36.89% a year to scale $1.68 Tn in five years, it is making up a substantial chunk of the 402.74 Mn Terabytes of data that the world produces every day. One terabyte equals to 10 followed by 20 zeroes of bytes.

This is where infrastructure comes into play in a big way. AI data centres (DCs), the massive facilities that help store, train, and process data and AI models, have thrown up a $17.73 Bn opportunity that’s expanding at nearly 27% annually.

India, with its digital economy making up 13.42% of the national income, leads the AI race in skill penetration, and has emerged as the fastest-growing developer population, being home to 16% of the world’s AI talent, which reaffirms its growing influence in AI innovation and adoption.

“Global tech giants are planning to widen their DC footprint in India to not only cater to the strong local demand, but also to serve Global South,” said Sunil Gupta, cofounder and CEO of DC provider Yotta.

While hyperscalers like Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are expanding their capacities, homegrown players like Yotta, AdaniConneX, Reliance, and Hiranandani Group too are bolstering their games, quietly turning India into a strategic hub for AI infrastructure. Expected to grow over 10 times to reach $17 Bn by 2030, India’s AI landscape has emerged as a throbbing market for data centre demand, attracting even the likes of Anthropic and OpenAI to work out their gameplan.

While this race to set up data centres in India is reminiscent of the clash of hyperscalers for cloud services in 2015-16, there is a growing need for larger space and more power this time.

The country has 1.4 GW of operational data centre capacity, which is expected to double by 2027 and shoot off five-fold by 2030, Macquarie was quoted in media reports. And, the cumulative capital expenditure, excluding servers, to build this infrastructure is projected to range between $30 Bn and $45 Bn.

Inc42 took a recce of India’s evolving tech turf and tracked how the thriving AI ecosystem would drive the country’s digital economy in the coming years.

India’s Evolving Data Centre Landscape

Beyond codes, data centre is a game of concrete, chips, and cooling systems. The demand for capacity translates into a surge in construction. While the Indian market would require an additional 45–50 Mn Sq Ft of real........

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