Meta Leases 168-MW AI Data Center from Reliance in Jamnagar

Meta Platforms announced on Wednesday that it will lease a 168-megawatt artificial intelligence data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat, from Reliance Industries, marking the company's first dedicated AI infrastructure investment in India. The facility, to be built and operated by the Indian conglomerate, is scheduled for delivery within two years and includes provisions for future expansion.

The agreement extends a partnership that began in 2020 when Meta invested $5.7 billion in Reliance's Jio Platforms. That relationship deepened last year through a joint venture focused on making Meta's open-source AI models available to Indian businesses and developers. Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani called the new project a transformative step for India's digital infrastructure, while Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said it would help scale the company's AI systems globally while strengthening its presence in the Indian economy.

India has become an increasingly attractive location for such facilities as technology companies confront rising demand for computing power. Global hyperscalers have directed roughly $400 billion toward the country's AI ecosystem in the past year, with much of that sum flowing into data centers and supporting energy infrastructure. Industry forecasts from Nomura project that India's data center capacity could reach 7 gigawatts by 2030, positioning the country among the fastest-growing markets for this type of infrastructure.

The Meta-Reliance deal arrives alongside several other large commitments. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, OpenAI, and Uber have all announced AI and cloud projects in India recently. Blackstone-backed AirTrunk said earlier this week it would invest $30 billion to develop 5 gigawatts of capacity by 2030. Domestic firms including Adani and Tata Consultancy Services have outlined their own expansion plans aimed at AI workloads.

New Delhi has encouraged these investments through targeted incentives, including long-term tax exemptions for foreign cloud providers that run overseas workloads from Indian facilities. The policy reflects an effort to capture a larger share of global AI spending while building domestic capabilities in advanced computing.

For Meta, the arrangement addresses immediate needs for additional capacity while deepening ties to a market that offers both lower costs and growing technical talent. The Jamnagar site will support training and deployment of large AI models, complementing existing infrastructure elsewhere. Reliance brings experience in large-scale construction and energy supply, areas that have become bottlenecks for data center developers worldwide.

The broader pattern of investment suggests India is moving from a peripheral player to a central node in global AI supply chains. As companies diversify locations beyond traditional hubs in the United States and Europe, India's combination of policy support, available land, and improving connectivity is drawing sustained attention. How quickly these projects translate into domestic innovation and skilled employment will depend on continued upgrades to power grids and regulatory frameworks.

Meta's move is one of several that will test whether India's infrastructure buildout can keep pace with the technology sector's expanding requirements.