Reliance To Invest $17 Bn To Set Up 1.5 GW Data Centre Cluster In Visakhapatnam

Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is planning to invest ₹1.6 Lakh Cr (about $17 Bn) to set up a 1.5 GW data centre cluster along with a captive solar battery storage system in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam. 

Citing sources, ET reported that the investment for the new data centre was approved by Andhra Pradesh’s Investment Promotion Committee at a meeting on April 25 (Saturday). 

RIL has reportedly requested 935 acres for the data centre cluster, out of which 300 acres will be utilised in the first phase and remaining 635 acres in the second. The company will set up a 5000 MW data centre at Poliapalli village in the first phase, expected to commence operations by October 2028. 

In the second phase, 1 GW capacity will come up at Bhogapuram East and West by 2030, which is near the Visakhapatnam airport. 

It has additionally sought 1 acre for a cable landing station and 80 acres to build a desalination plant in the campus, as per the sources. 

RIL will invest ₹1.08 Lakh Cr in the cluster and the remaining ₹51,300 crore in the renewable energy project, which was also cleared by the investment promotion committee. The solar project will have a total direct current panel capacity of 9,000 MW-peak with an ability to generate not more than 6,000 MW of alternating current. 

Inc42 has reached out to RIL for comments on the development. The story will be updated on receiving a response.

In November last year, Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu announced that Reliance will set up a 1 GW data centre in Visakhapatnam.

It was later announced that Digital Connexion, the joint venture of Brookfield Asset Management, RIL and Digital Realty, will invest about $11 Bn in Andhra Pradesh by 2030 to build a 1 GW AI-native data centre campus in the port city. It signed an MoU with the state government to acquire 400 acres for the project. 

The JV noted at the time that the campus will be powered by renewable energy, and use advanced cooling and efficient design systems to lower energy consumption.

The latest development makes RIL’s Visakhapatnam project the country’s biggest data centre investment till date. Google announced last year that it would invest $15 Bn to build a gigawatt scale data centre in the city, for which foundation stone will be laid later today. This is on top of a 500 MW centre by Sify, and a 300 MW capacity data centre by Anant Raj Cloud. 

MoUs have also been signed with RMZ and Tillman Global Holdings for 1 GW and 300 MW projects, respectively. 

While Andhra Pradesh has courted some of the world’s biggest AI-ready data centre investments, with targets of hosting a total 6 GW capacity, other states are also receiving a piece of the pie. 

RIL is also setting up a 1 GW AI-ready data centre in its home city of Jamnagar in Gujarat, aimed at driving affordable AI services in India. The project is part of RIL’s plans to invest ₹10 Lakh Cr in the country’s AI infrastructure over the next seven years, as announced by its CMD Mukesh Ambani at the ‘India AI Impact Summit’ earlier this year. 

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