Reliance logo is seen in this illustration taken, August 13, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
BENGALURU (Reuters) -Reliance Industries plans to set up a 1-gigawatt AI data center in India's Andhra Pradesh, the state's chief minister said on Friday, adding to infrastructure capacity in India where the likes of Google and Microsoft have made huge AI investments.
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu did not disclose financial details of the investment. Reliance did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Globally, companies are investing heavily to build new infrastructure to meet booming demand for AI services.
India is a critical growth market where nearly a billion users access the internet. Google last month committed to a $15 billion investment over five years to create an AI data center in Andhra Pradesh, its biggest ever investment in India. Microsoft and Amazon have also poured billions into building data centers in India.
Reliance's planned data center will operate as a twin to its gigawatt-scale AI data center in Jamnagar city in Gujarat state, "together forming one of Asia's strongest AI infrastructure networks," Naidu said.
AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialised data centers that enable tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters.
The Reliance group, led by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, includes Jio, India's leading telecoms carrier, Reliance Retail Ltd, Network18 Media & Investments Ltd and Jamnagar, India's largest oil complex.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru; Editing by Joe Bavier and Susan Fenton)
