TCS Partners with TPG in $2 Billion AI Data Center Venture to Build India's Digital Infrastructure

India's TCS gets TPG to fund half of $2B AI data center project | TechCrunch

Indian IT giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has secured $1 billion from private equity firm TPG as part of a multi-year, $2 billion project to build a network of gigawatt-scale data centers in the country. The project, dubbed "HyperVault," comes as demand for AI compute is rising faster than companies can build the power-hungry infrastructure needed to support it. The demand-supply gap for AI compute in India is particularly stark: the country generates nearly 20% of the world's data, but accounts for only about 3% of global data center capacity. Big tech companies and cloud providers have been investing billions of dollars to expand local capacity and tap the country's growing adoption of AI products. With HyperVault, TCS and TPG plan to develop liquid-cooled, high-density data centers with the power and network capacity required to support advanced AI workloads across major cloud regions, the companies said. Liquid cooling and high-density rack designs are growing common as the GPUs needed to power AI inference and training use significantly more power and generate more heat than conventional CPU servers. But such designs also raise questions about resource use in countries like India, where water scarcity is already a concern. In urban hubs such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, where much of India's data-center capacity is concentrated, existing water stress could complicate operations. S&P Global, citing Uptime Institute estimates, noted that a 1-MW data center load can require up to 25.5 million liters of water a year for cooling, adding pressure to already strained infrastructure. The rapid building of AI data centers stands to further stress India's power and land use, two other bottlenecks identified by industry analysts. High-density AI clusters require reliable electricity supply and large parcels of industrial land, two requirements increasingly difficult to secure in major urban regions. Nonetheless, global tech companies are treating India as their frontier for building AI infrastructure. Local and global technology firms have announced investments of more than $32 billion over the last two years to expand data center infrastructure in the country, according to S&P Global. In January, Microsoft said it would invest $3 billion over two years in India's cloud and AI infrastructure, and in October, Google said it would spend $15 billion over five years to build a gigawatt-scale AI data center hub in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. And back in 2023, Amazon committed $12.7 billion to build AWS cloud infrastructure in India through 2030. TCS said it would work with hyperscalers and AI companies to design, deploy and operate AI infrastructure as the platform expands. The company plans to build around 1.2 gigawatts of capacity in its initial phase. More than 95% of India's new data-center capacity over the next five years will come from leased facilities, and the remainder will be driven by hyperscalers building dedicated AI infrastructure, S&P Global estimates. Local players like Reliance Industries and CtrlS are also expanding their data-center capacity to meet rising demand. TCS and TPG project that India's total data-center capacity could exceed 10 gigawatts by 2030, up from roughly 1.5 gigawatts today.

TCS Brings TPG Onboard With $1B Investment to Scale AI Data Centre Venture HyperVault | AIM

TCS has secured a $1 billion investment from global alternative asset manager TPG to accelerate the expansion of HyperVault, its AI data centre business that aims to build gigawatt-scale, AI-ready digital infrastructure across India. The deal marks one of the largest private investments into India's data centre ecosystem and is a critical step in TCS' plan to become what it calls the world's largest AI-led technology services company. The company aims to set up AI data centre capacity exceeding one gigawatt over the next few years. HyperVault will be funded through a mix of equity from TCS and TPG, and debt. Both partners together will commit up to ₹18,000 crore, of which TPG will invest up to ₹8,820 crore. Depending on the final structure at closing, TPG is expected to hold between 27.5% and 49% in the venture. TPG's investment is being made through its climate-focused platform TPG Rise Climate and the Global South Initiative, along with its Asia real estate business. TCS chairman N Chandrasekaran said the partnership will help the company quickly build large-scale AI data centres to serve the rising demand from hyperscalers and AI companies. He said the capability positions TCS to deliver "complete AI solutions" for global customers and strengthens its ambition to lead in AI-led services. Jim Coulter, executive chairman of TPG, said data centres sit at the intersection of green energy infrastructure, technology, and real estate, and described the partnership as an opportunity to help build India's next wave of digital infrastructure "in a climate-positive manner." India's data centre market, currently around 1.5 GW of installed capacity, is projected to cross 10 GW by 2030. Industry estimates show nearly $94 billion has flowed into the segment since 2019, driven by cloud adoption, AI workloads, and hyperscaler expansion. TCS said HyperVault will offer secure, liquid-cooled, high-density AI data centres with energy-efficient designs and connectivity across major cloud regions. It will work closely with hyperscalers and AI companies to design, deploy, and optimise AI infrastructure for large-scale, real-time applications. The company said its broader AI strategy spans AI data centres, cloud platforms, AI-led IT services and industry-specific solutions. AZB & Partners and Deloitte advised TCS on the transaction, while TPG was represented by Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Latham & Watkins, and Price Waterhouse & Co LLP. The deal is subject to customary approvals.

AI ready data centres in India can not only service local customers but also service the world: TPG's Jim Coulter

In a conversation with Arijit Barman and Himanshi Lohchab, Krithivasan said TCS' new subsidiary, HyperVault AI Data Centres, will be central to the company's plan to become the world's largest AI-led services company. Coulter, meanwhile, framed India as the most undervalued data-centre opportunity globally, citing cheap power, rapid capacity build-out and unmatched engineering talent. Edited excerpts: India is poised to become a global hub for AI compute and data infrastructure -- that was the overarching sentiment as Jim Coulter, executive chairman, TPG, and K Krithivasan, chief executive officer, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), sat down for a joint interview as the two companies unveiled one of the country's most ambitious data centre ventures. In a conversation with Arijit Barman and Himanshi Lohchab, Krithivasan said TCS' new subsidiary, HyperVault AI Data Centres, will be central to the company's plan to become the world's largest AI-led services company. Coulter, meanwhile, framed India as the most undervalued data-centre opportunity globally, citing cheap power, rapid capacity build-out and unmatched engineering talent. Edited excerpts: What led to this partnership? K Krithivasan: We've been talking a lot about how TCS would become the largest AI-led services company. And one of the most important pillars is how we deepen our participation in the overall ecosystem, and provide end-to-end solutions to our customers. HyperVault will give options to our customers to establish active or passive data centres, create private cloud, or give them the ability to do model-as-a-service as well as work with hyperscalers and AI companies. Jim Coulter: I think India has a number of particular advantages which people haven't been talking about. First of all, your short data centre capacity in the market, a gigawatt on its way to 10 pretty fast... your national grid gives you low-cost electricity. It's 40% less than the US. And importantly, one of the things that people grossly underestimate in this world is the human capital aspects of what's happening here... So I think you add that up, and not only for servicing India, but for servicing the world, this is an interesting market. And one of the things that's really interesting here, as you think about what we're announcing, TCS has a unique place in the world of providing solutions to its clients. It would be almost odd to me if those solutions didn't include data centre solutions at a time where data centres are one of the hot areas. And then for us as TPG, we are active players. Intersect Power, which entered into large projects with Google across data centres in the US, we're active in that.. and we see this as a unique opportunity to expand our footprint. Who's bringing in the hardware expertise and the infrastructure expertise? Is that TPG and portfolio companies, is it the Tata Group? Krithivasan: TPG will be the investment partner. TCS will be running HyperVault on a day-to-day basis. So we bring in the technical capability required to bring up the data centre. If you look at the overall ecosystem that's available to us, Tata Communications can do a lot of work. We have the ability to work with Tata Projects. And you have Tata Power, which has great experience in renewable power. So we have the ability to bring them all together and maybe be able to accelerate the whole build-up compared to anybody else in the world. And like Jim said, at a much better price point than anybody else can offer anywhere. TCS is not particularly strapped for cash. So why exactly did you feel the need to partner with a finance firm for funds? Krithivasan: We believe this is the best way to ensure that our investors' money is well spent. We have the ability to work with a partner. We are also going to the market. We will invest together $2 billion. And then we go to the market for the rest of the money. How much debt will you be raising? Krithivasan: TPG and TCS will together invest $2 billion. The rest would come from the debt instruments. We are creating a passive data centre. Then someone has to put the GPUs, CPUs, and all the hardware, software required. That's additional money that will come from the users of the data centre. Have you identified a location in the country? Krithivasan: We are looking at a number of places. Many state governments are interested in establishing data centres there. I don't want to name it at this time. What is going to be the capacity of the first facility? Krithivasan: We are looking at overall a 1 GW centre. We probably will start looking at 100-200 MW to start with. But we want rapid scaling. What is the end customer segment that you are targeting? Krithivasan: We are currently looking at three or four major segments. As the cloud usage increases, this market is expected to grow significantly. The second is both AI training as well as inferencing. And third is for secure sovereign cloud or private data centres. Do you think hyperscalers will be large tenants? Because they are also owning and building data centres in India themselves. Krithivasan: Yeah, they are building. But they have spoken to us and shown a lot of interest. And AI companies could be the other second most important. Is this the first partnership with a private equity firm in TCS' history? Krithivasan: Yes. When you made the announcement in October, the markets reacted. Some analysts said it was a radical move. Some were worried about synergies. Did the market read it wrong? Krithivasan: People started looking only at this in isolation. We have to see what is the business that comes out of this. What is the synergy benefit that TCS can leverage out of it, right? Like all the partnerships that we will be building. All the end-to-end solutions that we will be giving to our customers. All those things were probably not factored in when the initial reaction came in. And I think we need to continue to talk to analysts and continue to explain to them. One, what is the overall rationale for this? And how does it help us in deepening the solutions that we will be able to give to our customers. But I think slowly a better understanding is emerging. What's happening to the sentiment around the AI stocks -- in the US specifically? Coulter: I was in Singapore six weeks ago and everyone was talking about the undiminished future of AI and I was there 16 hours ago and there was an AI bubble (laughs). And I think this will be a volatile path because the market's ability to exactly value all of the players in this huge ecosystem is going to be difficult. So I don't pay a lot of attention week-to-week on these things. And I think we should be neither too optimistic when the stocks are up nor too pessimistic when they head the other way. What I do know is there's a fundamental shift going on. But just as we saw in the internet technology shift, do not think it will be a straight line at any given moment and do not think we know exactly where the profit pools will sit. Billions in capex are predominantly being invested for inference. But inference is not paying enough to cover the capex cost. Will the gap be funded by equity? By when do you see the inference cost actually breaking even so that LLMs can support the cost of this capex? Coulter: I'm not the right person to answer that. I think what we do know in huge tech revolutions like this, there's always a period of time before profitability standards catch up with the dollars being spent. So I would not bet against the future of AI. But whether we know exactly which capex is going to be the most effective is yet to be proven. What I do like is in being the picks and shovels to AI. So you have decided that TPG is going to be the picks and shovels business and not on the LLM models' side? Coulter: I think we are active investors in the ecosystem generally, including the models. How are TPG's investments in India playing out? Coulter: We're very pleased with our business in India. We've had 15 IPOs out of our portfolio in India in the last two years. We've, I think, been a quiet but significant player in the market and we think this is a very interesting time in India. Do you think the data protection law will play a part in attracting more localization? Krithivasan: Absolutely. I talked about the sovereignty of the cloud. There will be more and more interest in ensuring Indian data resides in India, which is going to require more capacity in India for data centres. And the evolution of some of the laws that the government is talking about can also mean that India can provide a secure sovereign place for overseas data as well. Coulter:The world is regionalizing in a series of ways. It's regionalizing in supply chain, in capital, in data. So this is an important moment for India, not only for its own data, but in a long-term trend of regionalization. Have you started talking to AI chip providers? Krithivasan: At this time, this particular initiative is about passive data centres. We directly don't intend to have GPUs and TPUs. We expect the customers who will be using these data centres to bring that. How do you feel about aggressive competition from India's largest businesses in this space? Krithivasan: We are very confident because we are the only player that actively participates in the technology ecosystem compared to anyone else. So we have the ability to provide an end-to-end solution to our customers compared to anybody else. And we have deep partnerships with the enterprises, hyperscalers globally and AI companies globally.

TCS Taps TPG For $2-billion Joint Investment In HyperVault AI Data Center Business

'[The investment] will further strengthen our partnership with hyperscalers and AI companies. With this capability, TCS is uniquely positioned to deliver complete AI solutions for its customers and partners. We are excited and committed to play a leading role in creating world-class AI infrastructure and solutions for the industry and work towards making TCS the largest AI-led technology services company,' says TCS Chairman N. Chandrasekaran in a prepared statement. India-based global IT services, consulting, and business solutions provider Tata Consultancy Services has received a $1-billion investment from TPG aimed at supporting its HyperVault AI data center business. For TCS, ranked No. 3 on CRN's 2025 Solution Provider 500, the investment targets the building of the solution provider's HyperVault AI data center business. This includes supporting the building of HyperVault's GW-scale AI ready infrastructure, the company said. TPG, with dual headquarters in San Francisco and Ft. Worth, Texas, is a global alternative asset management firm that invests across a broad and diversified set of strategies, and as of this fall had $286 billion worth of assets under management. [Related: Tata Consultancy Services Launches Responsible AI Framework] TCS did not respond to a CRN request for further information by press time. TCS said that HyperVault is a keystone to the company's plan to become what it called the largest AI-led technology services company. HyperVault aims to deliver secure, reliable, large-scale AI-ready infrastructure for hyperscalers and AI-driven organizations across all the top cloud regions via purpose-built, liquid-cooled data centers with high rack densities and energy efficiency. TCS and TPG are combining a mixture of equity and debt to fund TCS' HyperVault. The two have committed to invest up to Rs 18,000 crore (in India's currency), or just over U.S. $2 billion at current exchange rates, over the next few years. Of that, TPG will invest up to Rs 8,820 crore or about $1 billion, giving it a 27.5 percent to 49 percent share in HyperVault. TCS Chairman N. Chandrasekaran, in a prepared statement, said TPG's support will help TCS build large GW-scale AI data centers in India to tap burgeoning AI demand. "It will further strengthen our partnership with hyperscalers and AI companies. With this capability, TCS is uniquely positioned to deliver complete AI solutions for its customers and partners. We are excited and committed to play a leading role in creating world-class AI infrastructure and solutions for the industry and work towards making TCS the largest AI-led technology services company," Chandrasekaran said.

TCS Joins AI, Data Centre Rush with $2Billion TPG Alliance

India's largest software exporter, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), is joining forces with private equity group TPG in a multi-billion dollar joint venture to create gigawatt-scale, AI-ready data centres. The Tata company is looking to accelerate its efforts toward becoming the world's largest AI-led technology services firm. This also marks a strategic pivot for the IT firm, which has historically pursued a capex-light, organic growth business model. It will be the third equity partnership between TPG and Tata group after the Tata Motors electric vehicles arm and Tata Technologies. Both partners have agreed to cumulatively invest up to ₹18,000 crore ($2.1 billion) as equity in HyperVault AI Data Centre Ltd -- incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of the technology company late in October -- over the next few years, TCS said in an official statement on Thursday. TCS will own a controlling 51% of HyperVault. TPG will deploy ₹8,820 crore ($1.1 billion) for a stake of up to 49%. ET was the first to break the story online on Thursday afternoon, hours before the formal announcement. The new data centre arm will be led by a separate management and will operate as a colocation data centre provider offering services to hyperscalers, Indian enterprises and government entities, along with Tata companies, said the company's management. TPG can appoint up to two board members. The project will complete buildout in five to seven years and revenue could start kicking in over the next 18-24 months. "HyperVault will give options to our customers to establish active or passive facilities (data centres), create private cloud, or give them ability to do model-as-a-service as well as work with hyperscalers and AI companies," TCS chief executive K Krithivasan told ET in an exclusive interaction, moments after the deal announcement. "We are creating a passive data centre. Then someone has to put the GPUs, CPUs and all the hardware, software required. That additional money will come from the users of the data centre, as and when contracts get signed." Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran said, "With this capability, TCS is uniquely positioned to deliver complete AI solutions for its customers and partners." TPG's investment will be through TPG Rise Climate and its Global South Initiative, a private equity strategy launched in partnership with Altérra, along with its credit and real estate platform Angelo Gordon, which will also be making its India debut. TPG executive chairman Jim Coulter pointed out India's advantages. "India is currently short on data centre capacity, though it is expected to ramp up to 10 GW relatively fast. The national grid provides low-cost electricity that is 40% cheaper than (in) the US," he said. "Construction costs are also among the lowest, which will have a bearing on lease pricing. Additionally, one of the things that is hugely underestimated in this market is the quality of human capital. If you add it all up, this is an interesting market not only for servicing India, but for servicing the world." This is the first time that cash-rich TCS will be taking equity from a PE firm as well as external debt to fund a project. Last month, TCS announced its plan to enter the data centre space with an aim of building up to 1.2 GW of capacity, entailing $6.5-7 billion in investments to be funded via debt and equity. To put the scale of the project in context, 1.2 GW is the entire combined capacity of India's existing data centres. However, this is expected to grow manifold, reaching 9 GW in the next five to seven years, attracting capex investments of $50-95 billion as competition heats up in the space, market forecasts suggest. Some investors and analysts had expressed concern over the diversification plan, which they saw as having limited overlap with core IT services and putting pressure on returns. TCS' return on equity stood at 51% and return on invested capital at over 80% in FY25, but the shift to a capex-heavy model may weigh on these metrics. The TCS stock had reacted negatively, dropping 1.5% following the October announcement. The company had ₹47,000 crore in free cash flows as of FY25. Traditional IT services companies such as TCS are facing a tough transition, shifting from a human-led model to stay relevant amid AI disruption. The Tata firm laid off 1%, or 6,000 people, of its 600,000-strong workforce in the last quarter as part of plans to reduce headcount by 2% in this financial year. This, combined with voluntary and involuntary attrition, saw the workforce down by 19,755 on a net basis in July-September, its largest quarterly decline ever. However, the management said the data centre project will help TCS become an "end-to-end solutions provider," offering both infrastructure and IT services. "We believe this is the best way to ensure that our investors' money is well spent," said Krithivasan. "Together, we invest $2 billion. And then we go to the market for the rest of the money. We are currently looking at three or four major segments. As cloud usage increases, this market is expected to grow significantly. The second is AI training and inferencing. And finally, secure and sovereign cloud or private data centres."

TCS, TPG join forces in Rs 18,000 cr AI data centre play

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has partnered with private equity firm TPG to establish a multi-billion dollar joint venture, HyperVault AI Data Centre Ltd. This collaboration aims to build large-scale AI and Sovereign Data Centers in India, with TCS and TPG investing significantly to meet the growing AI demand and bolster TCS's position as a leading AI-led technology services firm. India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Thursday announced a multi-billion dollar joint venture with private equity group TPG Terabyte Bidco Pte. Ltd. to create multiple AI and Sovereign Data Centers as the Tata Group flagship looks to accelerate its efforts towards becoming "the world's largest AI-led technology services firm". ET was the first to report about the partnership between the tech major and the asset management firm. TCS and TPG are planning to invest around Rs 18,000 crores of equity as alliance partners in HyperVault AI Data Centre Ltd - incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of the technology company. The joint venture firm HyperVault Data Centre is created for the development, ownership, operation, and management of data centers and associated infrastructure in India designed for both AI and non-AI workloads, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. TCS and TPG are said to invest in the proportion of 51:49 respectively of their commitment and TPG will invest up to Rs 8,820 crore and is envisaged to have a final shareholding between 27.5% and 49% in HyperVault. "I am delighted to have TPG join us in our journey to build large GW-scale AI data centers in India, tapping the rapidly growing AI demand. It will further strengthen our partnership with hyperscalers and AI companies," N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman, TCS, said. The investment by TPG will support HyperVault's GW-scale AI-ready infrastructure build and aligns with TCS' plan to create AI-ready data centers with capacity in excess of a GW over the next few years. "With this capability, TCS is uniquely positioned to deliver complete AI solutions for its customers and partners. We are excited and committed to play a leading role in creating world-class AI infrastructure and solutions for the industry and work towards making TCS the largest AI-led technology services company," he added. Also read: India's data centre capacity to double by 2027, may rise 5x by 2030: Macquarie Equity Research With a recent boom in AI companies, India currently has a data centre capacity of about 1.5 GW, which is expected to exceed 10GW by 2030. According to industry estimates, India's data center market has attracted nearly $94 billion in investments since 2019. TCS plans to work closely with hyperscalers and AI companies to design, deploy, and optimise AI infrastructure, to enable world-class service delivery of AI services. The JV aims to offer purpose-built, liquid-cooled data centers with high rack densities, energy efficiency and network connectivity across all key cloud regions. As per ET's report, this will be the third time that the US buyout group will be partnering with India's largest conglomerate after Tata Motors EV arm and Tata Technologies. This will also be the first time that cash-rich TCS will be taking external equity from a PE firm as well as external debt.

Tata Consultancy Services to form $2 billion AI joint venture with TPG - report By Investing.com

Investing.com -- India's Tata Consultancy Services (NS:TCS) is planning to establish a multi-billion dollar joint venture with private equity firm TPG (NASDAQ:TPG) focused on AI and sovereign data centers, according to a report published Thursday in the Economic Times. The joint venture, to be named HyperVault AI Data Centre, will involve an equity investment of approximately $2 billion from both companies, with plans to raise an additional $4.5-$5 billion through debt financing over time, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter. TCS will hold a majority 51% stake in the partnership, according to company officials who spoke to the Economic Times on condition of anonymity. The initiative represents a significant move into the growing artificial intelligence infrastructure space by one of India's largest technology services companies. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.

ET Exclusive: TCS looks to rope in TPG for $2 billion AI data centre JV

Tata Consultancy Services is forming a multi-billion dollar joint venture with TPG to build AI and Sovereign Data Centers, marking a strategic shift towards a capex-heavy model. This ambitious project aims to establish TCS as a major player in the data center space, investing significantly to meet growing demand. India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is set to form a multi-billion dollar joint venture with private equity group TPG to create multiple AI and Sovereign Data Centers as the Tata Group flagship looks to accelerate its efforts towards becoming "the world's largest AI-led technology services firm," said people in the know. This would be a strategic pivot for the IT firm that has historically pursued a capex-light, organic growth business model. Together TCS and TPG are planning to invest around $2 billion of equity as alliance partners in HyperVault AI Data Centre Ltd - incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of the technology company in late October. TCS will be the majority partner in the JV with 51% stake, according to officials of the company in condition of anonymity, as the talks are still in private domain. The residual $4.5-$5 billion will be raised through debt over time, they added. Both sides are expected to sign a formal agreement by this weekend, possibly as early as Thursday. This will be the third time that the US buyout group will be partnering with India's largest conglomerate after Tata Motors EV arm and Tata Technologies. This will also be the first time cash rich TCS, will be taking external equity from a PE firm as well as external debt. Last month, TCS announced its plan to make a foray into the data centre space with an aim to build up to 1.2 GW of capacity, which will entail $6.5-$7 billion in investments. The company had said this will be made possible through partial equity investments from financial investors and funding through debt, according to the company's management. It has so far not disclosed the identity of its financial partners. The new business unit led by a separate management will operate as a co-location data centre provider offering services to hyperscalers, Indian enterprises and government entities along with Tata group companies, said the company's management. The project will require five-seven years for complete build out and revenue could start kicking in over the next 18-24 months. To put the scale of TCS' project in context, 1.2 Gigawatt is the entire combined capacity of India's existing data centres. However, this is expected to grow multifold reaching 9 Gigawatt in the next 5-7 years attracting capex investments of $50-$95 billion as competition heats up in the space, market forecasts suggest. The announcement however triggered polarising views from investors and analysts, some of whom expressed apprehensions over the diversification which they saw as having limited overlaps with its core IT services and potential pressure on returns. TCS's return on equity (ROE) stood at 51% and return on invested capital (ROIC) at over 80% in FY25, but the shift to a capex-heavy model may weigh on these metrics. The TCS stock had also reacted negatively, dropping 1.5% following the public announcement. "We have set a target of 1 GW. We will be doing it in phases. We expect to do 1 GW in 5-7 years," TCS' chief executive K Krithivasan said at an investor call after the company announced its September quarter earnings. As per the company's calculations, every 150 MW will entail an investment of $1 billion, which translates into over $6.5 billion for the overall capacity building. Samir Sekhsaria, TCS' chief financial officer said revenues from the data centre business will start accruing in 18-24 months' time. India's largest software services firm is confronting one of its most significant transitions yet, as it seeks to pivot its traditional, human-led services model to stay relevant amid AI disruption. For the first time, TCS laid off 1%, or 6,000, of its around 600,000-strong workforce during the last quarter as part of its larger plans to reduce its headcount by 2% in this financial year. This, combined with voluntary and involuntary attrition, TCS' workforce declined by 19,755 on a net basis in July-September, its largest quarterly decline ever. TPG was unavailable for comment. Mails sent to TCS spokesperson also did not generate an immediate response. Data Centre Gold Rush The Tata Group would be the latest among deep pocketed Indian business groups to make a big entry and would pit them directly against leading co-location providers such as Reliance Industries, AdaniConnex, Bharti Airtel's Nxtra Data, NTT Global, Sify Technologies and CtrlS Datacenters. Last month, Adani Enterprises and Alphabet's Google said they will invest $15 billion over the next five years to develop a gigawatt-scale data center hub in Andhra Pradesh. AdaniConneX, a joint venture between the Adani Group and data center operator EdgeConneX, will undertake the project, which will be supported by a subsea cable network and renewable energy facilities. In August, Reliance Industries signed deals with Meta and Google to develop AI platforms and announced plans for a gigawatt-scale data center in the western state of Gujarat. ET on November 14 reported Reliance is also planning to set up a 1 GW data centre in Andhra Pradesh, a twin of its facility that is coming up in Jamnagar. Even then these multi-billion dollar initiatives are a fraction of what the big tech titans -- Meta, Microsoft, Amazon and Google -- are spending globally, with their combined annual capex projected to exceed $400 billion in 2026 alone.