Adani Group pursues Meta and Google partnerships to expand its data center business in India

Adani eyes partnerships with Meta, Google amid data centre boom

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani is in talks with American technology giants including Meta Platforms Inc. and Google for partnerships in his fast-expanding data centre business, according to people familiar with the matter. Walmart Inc.'s Flipkart is also engaged in talks with the tycoon and the Adani Group is exploring sites across Indian states for the centres, said the people, asking not to be identified as the negotiations are private. The talks, part of a sweeping $100 billion digital infrastructure push by Adani, seeks to position his port-to-power group as the supplier of both land and renewable energy needed for hyperscale facilities -- resources critical to artificial intelligence and cloud services worldwide. Specific sites for the new facilities have yet to be finalized, and the discussions remain preliminary, the people added. Still, the move underscores intensifying competition for digital infrastructure in India. India's landmass and fast-growing economy have made it a magnet for overseas investors and technology companies seeking scale. The surge in interest is part of a global race to build such facilities, even as China has warned of oversupply. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s Joe Tsai last year cautioned that much of the development there is duplicative. AdaniConnex Pvt., a joint venture between Adani Enterprises Ltd. and EdgeConneX, in October announced a partnership with Google, which is investing about $15 billion to build India's largest AI infrastructure hub at Visakhapatnam. The current negotiations mark a fresh phase of investment beyond those commitments, the people said. Representatives for Adani Group, Meta and Walmart declined to comment. A spokesperson for Alphabet Inc, which owns Google, said the company had no new investments to talk about. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd., through its Digital Connexion venture, signed an $11 billion pact to build data centres at Visakhapatnam in November, while Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. secured $1 billion from TPG Inc. to accelerate its own efforts. Global players are also stepping up. Amazon.com Inc. plans to invest $12.7 billion on cloud infrastructure in India through 2030, while ChatGPT-creator OpenAI is seeking to set up a 1-gigawatt data centre in the region.

Adani Looking to Boost Data Center Business with Google, Meta

In addition, the company is talking with Walmart owned Flipkart and is also exploring sites across Indian states for setting up new data centers. Gautam Adani, founder and chairman of the Adani Group, is looking to collaborate with the American tech giants for scaling data center business in India. Adani Group is reportedly in talks with Meta Platforms Inc and Google for partnerships in the data center domain. In addition, the company is talking with Walmart owned Flipkart and is also exploring sites across Indian states for setting up new data centers. Read More - Vodafone Idea Rs 670 and Rs 1005 New Plans Added In the age of intelligence which powers AI (artificial intelligence) and cloud services, data centers will be the key to it all. For India to truly scale in the intelligence sector, more data centers need to come in. According to an ET report, these talks are part of a $100 billion digital infrastructure push by the Adani Group. The sites are not yet finalised, the report mentioned. The discussions are also in the initial stages, meaning it may never materialise. But Adani is not the only player to make a move here. Even Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is pushing for building the AI infrastructure with one of the largest data centers in the world in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This will be a data center scaling capacity up to 3 gigwatts. Reliance will get the chips from Nvidia and the energy will come from Reliance's very own sources, and this will be renewable energy too. Read More - OnePlus Launches World's Thinnest Magnetic Phone Cooler AdaniConnex Pvt., a joint venture between Adani Enterprises Ltd and EdgeConnex X, in October announced a partnership with Google. This partnership is to build a $15 billion AI infrastructure hub at Visakhapatnam. It will be interesting to see who will win the AI (artificial intelligence) infrastructure race in India. Reliance has already made the first push and now Adani is also gearing up for more investments in this domain.