Susana Schwartz
When Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, in the span of one week, pledge nearly $52 billion to India, one has to wonder, “what’s going on here?”
For one, tensions between the U.S. and China may be shifting the geopolitical balance toward India, with companies diversifying their supply chains to reduce their reliance on Chinese manufacturing and data centers. India is capitalizing on that pivot, positioning itself in the AI supply chain as the host of massive data centers for data to be trained for AI models. By allowing investment to come in, India is building clusters and hubs with vast expanses of land, road, water, and energy infrastructure.
Economist and geo-strategist Mark Brolin revealed other reasons for the massive investment in a conversation with Firstpost’s Prathik S Vinod. He noted India’s huge pool of skilled STEM talent (engineers, developers, data scientists), which also happens to be younger and more affordable than what hyperscalers can find in the United States. This, of course, goes against the Trump administration’s push for America first, but at this rate, it seems India will become a critical global AI infrastructure hub.
In addition to affordable human capital, hyperscalers are looking east because regulations there are more favorable to the market than the U.S. or E.U. That could evolve, however, as the regulatory regime in India is undergoing some change, and public opinion is shifting in places where data centers are having an impact. Already in Mumbai, there is growing opposition to the continued operation of two coal plants run by Tata Group and Adani, which were due to close last year to cut emissions. Those plans changed with rising electricity demand and the increased need for coal, driven by data centers in the region.
Hyperscalers’ investments in India are set to dramatically increase India’s data center capacity from approximately 1.5 GW to a projected 10 GW by 2030, solidifying the country’s role as a serious compute powerhouse.
Susana Schwartz
Technology Editor
RCRTech
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