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

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.

The second infrastructure Cloud region in Hyderabad was established by mid-2022 with three availability zones. The AWS investment came at a cost of INR 20,761 Cr ($2.77 Bn).