Adani pledges $100B to build AI data centers as India seeks bigger role in the global AI race

Indian conglomerate Adani Group said on Monday that it would invest $100 billion over the next decade to build data centres specialised for AI across the country, a move that highlights India’s push to take on a bigger role in the global AI race.

The investment, running through 2035, is intended to build renewable-energy-powered data centres designed to support AI workloads, the company said. Adani expects the initiative to unlock an additional $150 billion in related investments and create a $250 billion AI infrastructure ecosystem in India over the decade.

Adani is pledging investment in AI infrastructure as companies increasingly look outside the U.S. for compute capacity, energy availability, and favourable regulation. India, with a rapidly expanding digital economy and a growing renewable energy base, has become a major destination for data centres and broader AI infrastructure over the past couple of years.

The announcement comes as India hosts the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this week, bringing together policymakers, industry leaders, and executives from top AI and Big Tech companies, including OpenAI, Nvidia, Anthropic, Microsoft, and Google.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani (pictured above) described the initiative as a long-term wager on the convergence of energy and computing. “India will not be a mere consumer in the AI age,” he said, adding that the group intends to help establish a domestic AI infrastructure foundation.

The strategy builds on Adani’s existing data-centre platform and its partnerships with companies such as Google and Microsoft. The conglomerate is developing large-scale data centre campuses in Visakhapatnam and Noda, and plans to add facilities in Hyderabad and Pune. An expanded partnership with Walmart-owned Flipkart will focus on a new AI data centre.

Adani said the broader plan calls for deploying up to 5 gigawatts of data-centre capacity. The company said the facilities will be developed as a unified system that scales power generation and processing capacity in parallel.

The effort builds on AdaniConneX, a joint venture between Adani Enterprises and U.S.-based EdgeConneX, which develops and operates data centres for hyperscale and enterprise customers. Adani said the JV has already developed about 2 gigawatts of data-centre capacity across India.

A core part of the plan is Adani’s renewable energy portfolio, which the group said will provide carbon-neutral electricity to its data centres. The company highlighted its 30-gigawatt Khavda renewable project in western India — more than 10 gigawatts of which are already operational — and said it plans to invest an additional $55 billion to expand renewable generation and battery energy storage over the coming years.

To limit exposure to global supply-chain disruptions, Adani said it plans to co-invest in domestic manufacturing of critical components, including transformers, power electronics, and thermal management systems.

Adani did not respond to questions about how much of the $100 billion investment is already committed capital, how the spending will be phased over the coming years, or when the first large-scale AI workloads are expected to go live.