Hyderabad-based CtrlS Datacenters announces plan to invest $2 bn in 6 years

Company expects to hire more than 1,000 people, especially senior leaders

CtrlS Datacenters, which provides data centre services, said on Thursday it would invest $2 billion over the next six years as it focuses on new technologies.

The Hyderabad-based company said the investment will add 350 megawatt (MW) of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-ready hyperscale data centres (DCs) in India and some markets in Southeast Asia. The company has 12 DCs of 234 MW capacity in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Noida, Lucknow and Patna.

The company expects to hire more than 1,000 people, especially in the senior leader category, in six years.

“We aspire to not only bolster our presence across key markets delivering the next generation of data centre technology, but also to elevate the standard for the entire data centre industry through pioneering services and sustainable practices,” said Sridhar Pinnapureddy, founder and chairman of CtrlS Datacenters, in a company statement.

A part of the $2 billion will go for making the company carbon neutral by 2030. CtrlS Datacenters is investing in solar projects across three markets that will generate 250,000 megawatt hours (MWh) of energy annually. A 145 MWp solar project in Maharashtra will be fully owned and operated by the company. CtrlS Datacenters plans to invest in additional 300 MWp projects by 2025.

CtrlS Datacenters said it aims to achieve its net zero goal through a multi-pronged strategy that goes beyond renewable energy. It is deploying technologies that will help meet its goal of using only recycled water at its data centres.

It has brought on board veterans of international companies to strengthen its leadership team. This includes Royce Thomas (from Equinix) who is joining as president and chief business officer; Ashish Ahuja (from Google) joining as chief technology officer; Vipin Jain (from AWS) joining as president of data centre operations, and Mohit Pande (from Jefferies) joining as chief financial officer.