Meta Likely To Build First India Data Facility At Reliance’s Chennai Campus

Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, will likely set up its first data centre in India at the Reliance Industries (RIL) campus in Chennai, aimed at facilitating local processing of user-generated content across all its apps.

However, the exact size of the deal remains undisclosed.

A deal between Meta chairman and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and RIL was made following discussions at the pre-wedding festivities of Anant Ambani, the youngest son of Reliance chief Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani, in Jamnagar last month, ET reported.

The proposed data centre is set to be housed within the 10-acre campus (MAA10) in Chennai’s Ambattur Industrial Estate. This campus, a joint venture among RIL, Brookfield Asset Management and Digital Realty boasts an IT load capacity of up to 100 MW.

With this facility, Meta plans to build four to five nodes across multiple locations in India, thereby boosting data processing speed in the market. It is also likely to improve user experience through faster content delivery and expects a reduction in transmission costs associated with global data hubs.

Besides, the integration of local advertisements is expected to further enrich user experience and decrease transmission costs, benefiting both Meta and its users.

According to several media reports, experts are of the opinion that with the government tightening noose around large AI models, Meta may look to run such operations locally. 

This comes close on the heels of Meta planning to expand its third-party fact checking programme in India in partnership with news agency Press Trust of India ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls, 

With this, Meta will now have 12 fact-checking partners in India, making it the most third-party fact-checking partner globally across the platform.

The idea is to address the problems of viral misinformation– particularly clear hoaxes with no basis. Fact-checking partners prioritise provably false claims that are timely, trending and consequential.

The social media giant covers 16 Indian languages, including Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu and Punjabi, among others. 

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