As technology companies race to secure the computing power needed to train and deploy AI systems, Mehta is the first company in India to bet on AI infrastructure, inking a data center partnership with conglomerate Reliance Industries in a market that is rapidly emerging as an AI infrastructure hub.
The partnership, announced on Wednesday, will see Mehta work with Reliance on a 168-megawatt AI-enabled data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat, extending a relationship that grew out of Mehta’s multibillion-dollar investment in Reliance’s Jio platform to a $100 million joint venture it launched last year to develop enterprise AI solutions for customers in India and international markets.
The deal comes as tech giants seek new geographies for data centers as demand for computing power for training and deploying AI models soars, solidifying India’s position as a natural destination for AI infrastructure investment. Companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, OpenAI, and Uber have recently announced investments in AI and cloud infrastructure in the country, and data center footprints have expanded rapidly in recent years.
The rush to enter India is not limited to global technology companies. Earlier this week, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk announced plans to invest $30 billion to build 5 gigawatts of data center capacity in the country by 2030, while Indian conglomerates including Adani and Tata Consultancy Services also announced massive data center expansion plans aimed at supporting AI workloads.
New Delhi is trying to attract such investment through policy incentives such as tax exemptions for foreign cloud providers on services sold overseas until 2047, as long as workloads run in Indian data centers.
India’s installed data center capacity increased from about 375 MW in 2020 to about 1.5 GW in 2025, according to government data. Industry estimates suggest that this number could increase more than five times to more than 8 gigawatts by the end of the decade, driven by cloud adoption, AI workloads, and growing demand for local data processing.
The Meta-Reliance deal marks the latest chapter in a relationship that has steadily deepened since Meta invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in 2020. Since then, the two companies have expanded their collaboration across digital services, enterprise AI, and now the infrastructure that powers next-generation AI systems.
As part of the partnership, Mehta is leasing capacity at Reliance’s new Jamnagar facility, which the companies say will be powered by renewable energy and cooled with desalinated seawater. Meta has committed to covering the full cost of energy and water needed to support its operations there.
Reliance said the 168-megawatt facility will be completed within two years and can be expanded over time. Additionally, the data center will also support Meta’s global infrastructure and AI computing requirements, directly connecting India to the company’s global network of AI facilities.
Under the agreement, Reliance said it will provide end-to-end services from design and construction to renewable power, connectivity and continuous operations, a sign of the conglomerate’s ambition to become a one-stop shop for AI infrastructure among global technology companies.
Separately, Mehta said it has signed up approximately 1 GW of new renewable energy capacity in India through agreements with CleanMax and Fourth Partner Energy, to supplement the renewable energy supporting its Jamnagar facility.
The companies did not disclose the value of the contract, the types of AI workloads that will be run from the facility, or whether Meta plans to invest in additional AI infrastructure in India.
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