NTT Data India To Spend $500 Mn On AI, Data Centres

SUMMARY

NTT Data’s India chief Avinash Joshi said the company has earmarked an investment of $500 Mn over the next 12-18 months in growth areas, including data centres and AI

A portion of the capital will also be deployed to meet the financial sector’s growing demand for sovereign cloud

Tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft and OpenAI are rushing to build data centres in India as they look to dominate the generative AI market

Japanese IT and business services giant NTT Data has pledged to invest $500 Mn in India over the next year or so as part of its plans to boost data centre capabilities in the country amid growing demand for cloud computing and AI.

NTT Data is India’s largest data centre provider and third-largest globally. Since 2007, it has invested more than $3 Bn in the Indian market.

With India emerging as a significant revenue driver, NTT Data’s India chief Avinash Joshi said the company has earmarked an investment of $500 Mn over the next 12-18 months in growth areas, including data centres and AI, The Hindu Businessline reported.

A portion of the capital will also be deployed to meet the financial sector’s growing demand for sovereign cloud over storing critical data in a public cloud.

NTT Data currently operates 16 data centres in India with a total capacity of 290 megawatt (MW). The company aims to add 210 MW more to its existing data centre capacity in the next 2-3 years, as per the report.

The company is also revamping its Innovation Centre in Bengaluru, with a focus on AI, digital twin and quantum computing projects.

The announcement comes at a time when India’s data centre industry is booming, spurred by rising demand for AI. The Centre has announced a slew of incentives to woo global tech giants to set up shop in India for everything from semiconductor chip manufacturing to data storage.

With the race to dominate the generative AI market gathering steam, big tech companies Amazon and Microsoft are planning to invest billions of dollars in India to boost their cloud computing capacities. While Microsoft has committed to invest about $3.7 Bn in Telangana, Amazon plans to invest nearly $13 Bn in cloud infrastructure in the country by 2030.

In January, reports surfaced that US investment giant BlackStone was planning to deploy $6 Bn for data centres in Maharashtra. OpenAI was also said to be in talks to establish data centres in the country.

The companies’ rush to build data centers in India is likely to give a boost to India’s ambitions of becoming a global leader and exporter of AI.