AirTrunk to invest $30 bn in India, PM Modi says it will strengthen AI and cloud infra

Australian data centre company AirTrunk will invest $30 billion in India to build new data centre capacity. PM Narendra Modi says the move will strengthen the country's AI and cloud infrastructure ecosystem.

In Short

• AirTrunk plans to invest $30 billion in India over the next four years
• The company aims to develop 5GW of new data centre capacity across the country
• PM Modi says the investment will boost India's AI, cloud computing and digital infrastructure capabilities

India's ambitions to become a major force in AI and cloud computing have received a fresh boost. Australian data centre company AirTrunk has announced plans to invest $30 billion (around Rs 3 lakh crore) in India over the next four years, a move that Prime Minister Narendra Modi says will strengthen the country's AI and cloud infrastructure while creating new opportunities for growth and innovation. The announcement comes as India continues to attract global technology companies looking to build the infrastructure needed to power the next phase of AI development. Data centres have become a critical part of that effort, providing the computing resources required for AI, cloud services, digital applications, and enterprise workloads.

AirTrunk said the investment will be used to develop 5 gigawatts of new data centre capacity in India. The company, headquartered in Sydney and backed by Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), entered the Indian market earlier this year through the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra. Prime Minister Modi welcomed the investment and showed its importance for India's growing digital economy.

"AirTrunk has announced plans to invest around Rs 3 lakh crore ($30 billion) in India, and develop 5 GW of data centre capacity. This is among the largest proposed investments in the country’s digital infrastructure ecosystem," Modi said in a post on X.

According to the Prime Minister, such investments will help strengthen India's position as a global destination for cloud computing and AI while also generating jobs, supporting local supply chains and encouraging innovation-led growth.

India emerging as a key destination for AI investments

AirTrunk's India plans come at a time when countries around the world are competing aggressively for AI-related investments. Governments and companies are investing heavily in data centres as demand for computing power rises rapidly with the adoption of generative AI technologies.

AirTrunk CEO Robin Khuda, who met Prime Minister Modi on Friday, said India has become one of the company's most important long-term investment destinations.

"One of the strongest messages we took away from this week was a genuine sense of urgency. There is a recognition that AI investment is a global race and that capital will flow to places that are prepared to compete for it," Khuda said.

He added that investors generally look for certainty, coordination and speed when evaluating markets for large-scale infrastructure projects. The company's current development pipeline in India includes around 600 megawatts of capacity spread across Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. The new investment is expected to significantly expand AirTrunk's footprint in the country over the coming years.

Big Tech and Indian giants ramp up AI infrastructure spending

AirTrunk is not the only company making a major bet on India's AI future. The country has increasingly emerged as a preferred destination for investments linked to artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital infrastructure.

In October last year, Google announced plans to invest approximately $15 billion in India between 2026 and 2030. The company said the investment would support the creation of its first AI hub in India, located in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The project is expected to include a large-scale data centre campus designed to meet rising demand for AI computing.

Indian conglomerates are also stepping up investments in the sector. Earlier this year, Reliance Industries and the Adani Group announced massive ($110 billion to $100 billion) commitments toward AI and data infrastructure projects as competition intensifies in what is increasingly being viewed as the next major technology growth area.

The growing flow of investments suggests that global technology companies see India as a long-term market for digital infrastructure. With a large internet user base, expanding digital services ecosystem and rising demand for AI-powered applications, the country is becoming an important hub for the infrastructure that powers the modern digital economy.

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