L&T plans 32 MW data centre capacity by March-end, eyes electrolyser orders

Infrastructure major Larsen & Toubro (L&T) plans to commission 18 MW of data centre capacity by March-end, taking its total operational capacity to 32 MW by the end of the current fiscal.

The total capital expenditure for the data centre stands at around Rs 1,000 crore.

In the semiconductor business, L&T is focusing on design-led chips and engaging with multiple customers, with most spending being expensed through the profit and loss account, the company said during Q3 earnings conference call.

As far as the electrolyser business is concerned, the company has developed a fully indigenous 4 MW stack and is upgrading it to 8-10 MW, expecting significant orders in the near term.

"As of now, we have almost 32 MW of capacity of Data Center, out of which 14 megawatts is up and running, another 18 megawatts will get commissioned by the end of this fiscal year," a company official said during the conference call.

"The total capex investment in the data centre is roughly in the range of Rs 1,000-odd crores," he added.

The official further noted that for semiconductors, "most of the spending that we are doing is still into creating design-led semiconductor chips. We are in touch with multiple customers in this segment. And whatever spend is happening, most of that is getting washed through the P&L itself.

"As far as electrolyzer business is concerned, we have already made a perfect design of a 100 per cent indigenous 4 MW stack. We are now slowly upgrading it to 8-10 MW stack. And we do expect a lot of opportunities to come in the near term," he said.

Larsen & Toubro reported a 4.2 per cent drop in consolidated profit after tax to Rs 3,215 crore in the December quarter due to a one-time provision for employee benefits related to new labour codes. The company posted a consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 3,359 crore in the year-ago period.

The total consolidated PAT for the quarter includes a one-time material provision of Rs 1,191 crore towards employee benefits arising from the implementation of the new labour codes, which has been classified under exceptional items.