US tech giant Meta Platforms has struck a deal with Indiaās Reliance Industries to lease capacity at a new artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled data centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
Reliance will construct the facility with an initial capacity of 168MW for Meta under the agreement, with options to increase capacity later.
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The data centre will run on renewable energy and use desalinated seawater for cooling. Meta will pay the full cost of the energy and water required for the site.
Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: āWe are proud to be working with Reliance to build our first AI-enabled data centre in India. This world-class facility in Jamnagar will help us scale our AI infrastructure globally while deepening our long-term investment in Indiaās economy.ā
Meta said the investment is part of its wider infrastructure expansion to support its products, services and AI ambitions globally.
The company pointed to Indiaās expanding digital economy, large user base and its existing relationship with Reliance as reasons for the investment.
The Jamnagar site will be included in Relianceās data centre campus in Gujarat.
Meta said the facility will also be backed by its broader network infrastructure investments, including Project Waterworth, a subsea cable system intended to improve connectivity in the region.
The deal extends an existing relationship between the two companies. In 2020, Meta invested $5.7bn in Relianceās Jio Platforms.
The companies later widened their collaboration through a joint venture aimed at bringing Metaās open-source AI models to Indian enterprises and developers.
āThis partnership with Meta marks a transformative moment for Indiaās digital infrastructure,ā Reliance chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said.
āBuilding Indiaās first built-to-suit AI data centre for a global technology leader of Metaās scale demonstrates Indiaās readiness to be at the forefront of the global AI revolution,ā he added.
In a separate announcement, Meta said it had signed agreements for nearly 1GW of renewable energy capacity in India.
The company has contracted 837MW of new solar and wind projects with CleanMax in Rajasthan and Karnataka, taking the cumulative capacity announced with CleanMax to more than 900MW.
Meta has also agreed to support 88MW of new solar and wind projects with Fourth Partner Energy across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
Meta said the renewable energy agreements, along with Relianceās plans to support the Jamnagar data centre with renewable energy, are intended to support its goal of matching all operations with 100% clean and renewable energy.
