AirTrunk signs letters of intent for $42 billion investment in Indian data centres
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The news: AirTrunk has signed letters of intent to invest USD30 billion ($42.1 billion) in five gigawatts of data centre capacity in India by 2030, subject to customer demand, the availability of supporting infrastructure, subsea cables and support from local state governments.
The context: The spend is on top of the 600 megawatts of data centre capacity being advanced following the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra for USD5 billion in mid-April. At the time, AirTrunk had three gigawatts of operating and planned capacity across Australia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong and India.
Khuda has spent the last week in India meeting with federal government representatives and state ministers in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. The trip culminated in a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi late on Friday afternoon.
Earlier in the week, AirTrunk signed a letter of intent for a land allotment in India’s western state of Maharashtra where it could invest USD21.05 billion in a three-gigawatt capacity data centre.
AirTrunk also signed a letter of intent with the Maharashtra state government to invest in a two-gigawatt data centre. Whether AirTrunk follows through on these letters of intent is still conditional on support from local state governments.
AirTrunk said the meetings in India focused on “infrastructure, energy and policy settings required to support AI-driven growth”. AirTrunk said the investments would support tens of thousands of jobs.
What they said: “AI infrastructure is becoming as economically important as roads, ports and power networks were in previous generations,” AirTrunk CEO Robin Khuda said in a statement to Capital Brief.
“The jurisdictions that recognise that and act accordingly will attract investment, jobs and innovation. India clearly understands what’s at stake. India get this and that’s why we’re doubling down there.”
In a media statement, Khuda said: “Capital is mobile, and India is creating the conditions for it to thrive. India is taking a top-down approach to AI with clear government-led initiatives, a world-class talent pool and massive availability of renewable energy”.
The source: AirTrunk media release
