The Tamesis
Fiber optic cable connected to the Ethernet port.
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Airtel-Controlled by billionaires Sunil Mittal— A group of investors is investing in a $1 billion data center project in India to capitalize on the artificial intelligence boom in the world’s most populous country.
Under the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, three US private equity firms will inject fresh capital into Airtel’s data center unit Nxtra Data. Alpha Wave Global will invest US$435 million, Carlyle will contribute US$240 million, and Anchorage Capital will contribute an additional US$35 million. The remaining investment will come from Airtel, which will retain a controlling stake in Nxtra, according to a company. statement Published Monday.
“Strategic partnerships with global investors and technology leaders are core to our growth roadmap, enabling us to accelerate expansion, leverage world-class expertise and deliver next-generation digital infrastructure solutions at scale,” Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal said in the statement.
Nxtra currently operates 14 data centers in India with a total capacity of approximately 300 MW. The company is building new facilities in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata and aims to expand capacity to 1 GW in the next few years.
Nxtra is also working with Google to develop a gigawatt-scale data center in the port city of Visakhapatnam on India’s east coast, announcing an investment of US$15 billion in October last year.
India is one of the hottest data center markets in the region, with capacity in Mumbai growing 42% last year to 768 MW, Chicago-based real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield said in a report last week.
The country’s billionaires are capitalizing on the artificial intelligence-driven data center boom. Reliance Industries, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, and his billionaire counterpart Gautam Adani’s Adani Enterprises will each spend $100 billion to build data centers and other digital infrastructure across India over the next few years.
Bharti Airtel, which has more than 600 million mobile customers in South Asia and Africa, has also been expanding its data center footprint. Mittal has a real-time net worth of $13 billion and is the controlling shareholder of Bharti Airtel. He also holds a stake in Airtel Payments Bank, a joint venture with Kotak Mahindra Bank, which is controlled by billionaire Uday Kotak.
