AWS to Invest $2 Billion in Telangana's Data Infrastructure

AWS Looking To Inject Additional $2 Bn Into Telangana To Fuel Its Data Operations

In late August, hospitality major Marriott Group began working to set up its first global capability centre (GCC) in the country in Hyderabad Amazon's cloud unit Amazon Web Services (AWS) is reportedly in discussions to infuse an additional $2 Bn into Telangana to expand its data centre capabilities in the state. "Amazon has shown interest in investing $2 billion in data centres across Telangana, not limited to just Hyderabad," ET reported, citing Telangana industries and IT minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu. "In our discussions, they (AWS) have conveyed their plans to channel this investment over the next 4-5 years, focusing specifically on data centre development," Babu added. As per the report, the state is willing to go all out to gain the likes of MNCs and big labels across sectors such as hospitality, defence and aerospace to either set up their facilities or expand operations in Telangana. In late August, hospitality major Marriott Group began working to set up its first global capability centre (GCC) in the country in Hyderabad, Babu was quoted as saying in the report. Babu also revealed that strategy is to go beyond attracting core technology companies and to persuade large multinationals from diverse sectors to make Telangana their tech hub. This move comes at a time when competition for investments from multinational brands across sectors is on peak from states such as Karnataka and Tamil Nadu among others. As of June, Karnataka's information technology and biotechnology (IT/BT) and rural development and panchayati raj (RDPR) minister Priyank Kharge said he expects the state to attract investment of $6.2 Bn in technology sectors such as biotechnology, AI, semiconductors, AVGC (animation, visual effects, gaming, and comics), and healthtech from the US and Europe. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu chief minister M K Stalin on his recent visit to the United States has met with various MNC headquarters such as Microsoft, Apple and Google to shake hands with the business leaders for their business expansion in the state and new investments. Few days ago, tech giant Google inked a pact with the Tamil Nadu government to explore manufacturing of its 'Made in India' Pixel 8 smartphones, skill development and build an industrial ecosystem, enabling MSMEs to create scalable AI solutions. So far, the cloud arm of ecommerce giant Amazon AWS has opened two data centre infrastructures, with one in Mumbai region and the other in Hyderabad region.

Telangana goes all out to get MNCs to open tech base in state

The strategy is to go beyond attracting core technology companies and to persuade large multinationals from diverse sectors to make Telangana their tech hub, Telangana industries and IT minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu said. This is over and above the $4.4 billion investment that the Washington-based company announced two years ago dedicated for its Hyderabad region, he said. As the race for investments heats up, Telangana is wooing tech giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS) along with marquee brands across sectors including hospitality, defence and aerospace to either set up new facilities or expand their existing operations in the state. Talks were underway with AWS to pump in an additional $2 billion to expand its data centre capabilities in the state, Telangana industries and IT minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu told ET in an exclusive interaction in Hyderabad. Also, hospitality major Marriott Group is setting up its first global capability centre (GCC) in the country in Hyderabad, he said late last month. The strategy is to go beyond attracting core technology companies and to persuade large multinationals from diverse sectors to make Telangana their tech hub, Babu said. "Amazon has shown interest in investing $2 billion in data centres across Telangana, not limited to just Hyderabad," he told ET. "In our discussions, they (AWS) have conveyed their plans to channel this investment over the next 4-5 years, focusing specifically on data centre development." This is over and above the $4.4 billion investment that the Washington-based company announced two years ago dedicated for its Hyderabad region, he said. Telangana is also doubling down on its head start in the GCC space, actively pursuing aerospace and defence majors to consider establishing centralised captive units for various business functions in the state, Babu said. "Telangana already hosts some of the industry's best, including Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Tata Advanced Systems, Airbus, GE Aerospace, Safran, and Elbit Systems. We are engaging with these companies about expanding their GCCs in Telangana, as they express significant interest in scaling their technology operations in Hyderabad from their current base," he said. Queries sent to these companies remained unanswered as of press time Wednesday. In a statement to ET, AWS said the company launched its second cloud infrastructure region in India in Hyderabad in 2022. The first one is in Mumbai. It also reiterated its announcement of $4.4 billion investment into the region from 2022 to 2030. "With hundreds of thousands of organisations of all sizes and from all industries across India choosing AWS to run their IT workloads, we are continually evaluating customer demand projections to identify opportunities for infrastructure expansion," it added. The hyperscaler had earlier this year said it was planning to spend more than $100 billion over the next decade on data centres globally. Babu said Amazon's data centre expansion will be primarily driven by advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). "Amazon recognises this potential and is eager to invest substantially in the region. We are committed to making a compelling case by providing them with diverse location options across Telangana, solidifying our state as the preferred destination for their data centre expansion," he said. Telangana's push for investments comes at a time when it faces intense competition not just from other southern states including Andhra Pradesh but also from other states even as many big investments are heading to Gujarat.