Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. (TCS) is taking a significant step in the AI space by setting up a wholly owned subsidiary focused on building “world-class AI infrastructure” in India. The initiative will kick off with a 1 GW AI data centre, backed by a massive $6.5 billion investment—an amount equal to the country’s current total installed data-centre capacity. This move signals TCS’s ambition to play a pivotal role in shaping India’s AI ecosystem.
“We have set a target of 1 GW. We will be doing it in phases,” Krithi Krithivasan, chief executive officer at India’s IT bellwether said during an investor call after the company announced its September quarter earnings. “We expect to do 1 GW in 5-7 years.”
TCS has stated that building 150 MW of AI computing capacity requires an investment of $1 billion, which adds up to $6.5 billion for the full 1 GW target. The funding will come through a mix of equity and debt, with financial investors brought on board. The AI data centre will serve clients such as AI-focused startups, deeptech firms, hyperscalers, and, to a significant extent, government entities. Functionally, the facility will operate primarily as a passive data centre—essentially standing by to support operations if an active data centre experiences downtime.
TCS CFO Samir Sekhsaria stated that revenue from the AI data centre is expected to begin within 18–24 months. All data and AI computing operations will be hosted in India, though the company has not disclosed the exact location of the facility. In the past, Tata ran multiple data centres in India and Singapore through Tata Communications, but around 2017, it sold a majority stake in these facilities to STT Telemedia’s STT GDC. According to Data Center Map, Tata Communications continues to operate roughly 22 data centres across 16 locations in five countries: India, the UK, Singapore, Portugal, and the US.
