Ambani says Reliance-Brookfield to open data centre in Chennai next week

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani on Sunday said his firm Reliance Industries in partnership with Canada's Brookfield will open a data centre in Chennai next week, marking entry into the fast-growing market.

Reliance had in July last year invested about Rs 378 crore to enter an existing joint venture, where Brookfield Infrastructure and US-based realty estate investment trust Digital Realty were already partners. The three own 33 per cent each in the venture.

Speaking at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet here, Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, said his group is investing in renewable energy and green hydrogen as well as in setting up a data centre in the state.

"Reliance has partnered with Canada's Brookfield asset management and US-based Digital Reality to set up a state-of-the-art data centre, which will be opened next week," he said.

The Indian data centres market, which is expected to grow 40 per cent a year and draw USD 5 billion in investments by 2025, is heating up with Reliance's entry to rival Gautam Adani's Adani Group and Sunil Mittal's Bharti Airtel Ltd. in recent months.

Data centre and compute capacity requirements in India are set to jump on growing localisation of personal data, increasing access to digital services and adoption of data-intensive technologies like artificial intelligence among other drivers.

The joint venture will start the 20-megawatt greenfield data centre in Chennai next week and has also acquired 2.15 acres of land in Mumbai to build another 40-MW data centre.

Stating that Tamil Nadu has always been a land of rich cultural and intellectual heritage, Ambani said under the leadership of chief minister M K Stalin, the state has become one of the most business friendly states in the country.

"Therefore, I have every reason to believe it will soon become a trillion-dollar economy, which is the apt slogan of this summit," he said.

Reliance, he said, has partnered in Tamil Nadu's growth over the years.

It opened nearly 1,300 retail stores across the state, investing over Rs 25,000 crore. Jio, the telecom arm of the group, has invested over Rs 35,000 crore in Tamil Nadu, bringing the fruits of digital revolution to 35 million subscribers in every town and village in the state.

In December, Jio completed the fastest roll-out of 5G, anywhere in the world, he said. "This will enable Tamil Nadu to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence and other breakthrough fourth industrial revolution technologies, which will further accelerate its economy."

Ambani said Reliance has committed to making new investments in Tamil Nadu in renewable energy and green hydrogen.

"We shall work closely with the state government to promote sustainable development, which is necessary to save Mother Earth from the climate crisis," he said. "I am confident that the state government will support our forthcoming initiatives with viable policies.