CPP Investments commits $741M to CtrlS Datacenters in India's AI infrastructure race

Canadian pension giant joins race to fund India's AI-fueled data center boom

As global investors race to fund the infrastructure underpinning the artificial-intelligence boom, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board's CPP Investments has committed up to ₹70 billion (about $741 million) to Indian data center operator CtrlS, betting on India's growing role in the global buildout of cloud and AI infrastructure. Under the partnership announced on Wednesday, CPP Investments will invest ₹40 billion (around $423 million) to acquire an 8.2% stake in CtrlS and commit up to ₹30 billion (about $317 million) to a joint venture to develop hyperscale data center campuses across India. CPP Investments will own 48% of the joint venture, while CtrlS will hold the remaining 52%, the companies said in a joint statement. Founded in 2007, CtrlS operates more than 15 data centers across India. The Hyderabad-based company has been expanding its footprint to meet rising demand from cloud providers, enterprises, and AI workloads. India has become a major destination for data center and AI investments as global technology companies and investors ramp up spending to meet surging computing demand. Companies including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber have announced investments in the country in recent months, while operators are rapidly expanding capacity amid a broader global race to build AI infrastructure. "As one of the world's fastest-growing digital markets, India represents an important pillar of our global data center strategy," said CPP Investments' global head of real assets Max Biagosch in a statement. CPP Investments, Canada's largest pension investor, has been investing in India since 2009 and had net assets of about $20 billion in the country as of March 31, making it one of the largest foreign institutional investors in the market. The investment builds on CPP Investments' broader push into digital infrastructure. The pension fund said it has invested in the data center sector since 2017 and has built a portfolio of assets and joint ventures across major markets worldwide. The partnership will help CtrlS expand capacity and build infrastructure tailored for AI workloads, said CtrlS founder and chief executive Sridhar Pinnapureddy. The CPP-CtrlS deal is the latest in a string of investments targeting India's data center sector. Earlier this month, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk said it would invest $30 billion to build five gigawatts of data center capacity in India by 2030. Meta, meanwhile, partnered with Reliance Industries last week on a 168-megawatt AI-enabled data center in the western state of Gujarat. New Delhi has sought to position India as a global hub for digital infrastructure through a range of policy measures, including tax exemptions for foreign cloud providers on services sold overseas through 2047, provided those workloads are run from data centers located in the country. Indian conglomerates have also accelerated expansion plans to capitalize on the opportunity. Adani Group and Tata Consultancy Services are among the companies that have unveiled major data center projects aimed at supporting AI and cloud workloads. In 2023, CtrlS announced plans to invest $2 billion over six years to expand its data center footprint across India. India's growing role in AI infrastructure has not yet been matched by similar progress in developing frontier AI models. While the country has a handful of startups building indigenous AI models, including Sarvam, much of the underlying AI technology used by Indian companies continues to be supplied by U.S. firms. The rapid buildout of data centers is also expected to increase pressure on electricity and water resources, highlighting some of the challenges that could accompany India's ambitions to become a major AI infrastructure hub.

CPP Investments inks C$1 billion strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is injecting up to C$1 billion into India's burgeoning data centre sector through a strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters. This significant investment will fuel the expansion of digital infrastructure, including hyperscale data centre campuses, to meet the escalating demand driven by AI and cloud services. MUMBAI: Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), one of the world's largest pension investors, has entered into a strategic partnership with CtrlS Datacenters to invest up to C$1 billion or Rs 7,000 crore to expand digital infrastructure in India, underscoring growing investor appetite for the country's rapidly expanding data centre sector. Under the transaction, CPP Investments will invest C$588 million or Rs 4,000 crore to acquire an 8.2% stake in CtrlS, an Indian data centre operator with operational assets, contracted capacity and a growing development pipeline. The two partners will also establish a joint venture to develop hyperscale data centre campuses across India. CPP Investments has committed up to C$441 million or Rs 3,000 crore to the venture and will hold 48% equity ownership, while CtrlS will own the remaining 52%. "As one of the world's fastest growing digital markets, India represents an important pillar of our global data centre strategy," said Max Biagosch, Senior MD and Global Head of Real Assets at CPP Investments. The partnership aims to accelerate the development of next-generation data centre infrastructure to cater to growing requirements from hyperscalers, cloud service providers and AI-driven applications. "India has firmly cemented its position as a tier-1 data centre market globally, and from an investment standpoint, the development yield per MW profile here is among the highest we see globally. This partnership combines CPP Investments' real estate and infrastructure expertise to capture value across both the operating platform and the development pipeline alongside an established partner like CtrlS," Hari Krishna, MD, Head of Real Estate India and Mumbai Office Head, CPP Investments, told ET. Of the total commitment, Rs 4,000 crore is already invested and the balance Rs 3,000 crore is expected to be deployed over the next 18 months. This is the initial investment, CPP Investments may consider investing more at the company and joint venture level later on, he added. The joint venture is expected to invest across established hubs including Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad along with Bengaluru, Pune and Delhi for hyperscalers. For edge data centres that envisage lower capital investments, it will consider the next 20 Indian cities. The investment marks the latest addition to CPP Investments' global data centre portfolio. The Canadian pension fund has been investing directly in the sector since 2017 and has since built a diversified portfolio of data centre assets and joint ventures across major international hubs, including Asia Pacific. "India's AI moment is not on the horizon, it is already here. The demand signals from hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises are clear and unmistakable... Together, we are not merely expanding capacity but also establishing the benchmark for AI-ready infrastructure in one of the world's most significant digital markets," said Sridhar Pinnapureddy, Founder & CEO, CtrlS. The India investment also builds on CPP Investments' long-standing presence in the country. The fund made its first investment in India in 2009 and opened its Mumbai office in 2015. As of March end, CPP Investments had over C$27 billion or Rs 185,000 crore of net assets in India, making it one of the country's largest international institutional investors. The latest investment comes at a time when demand for data centre infrastructure is accelerating amid rising adoption of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital services, prompting global institutional investors to increase exposure to India's rapidly growing digital economy.