Bharti Airtel’s data centre arm, Nxtra Data Limited, is planning to raise about $1 billion to expand its data centre capacity to the gigawatt scale. The company is also expected to bring in Alpha Wave Global, the investment firm as a new investor.
The proposed capital raise, which will be carried out through a rights issue and a preferential allotment, will also be supported by two existing shareholders. The move is aimed at strengthening Nxtra’s position alongside companies such as Reliance, Adani, Tata and Larsen and Toubro in India’s rapidly expanding digital infrastructure sector.
Under the plan, Airtel and Carlyle are expected to invest about $300 million each, while Alpha Wave Global is likely to invest around $400 million as a new shareholder. All funds raised will be in the form of primary capital. The investment also coincides with Airtel’s efforts to co-develop Google’s $15 billion gigawatt scale artificial intelligence (AI) hub and data centre complex in Visakhapatnam alongside the Adani Group.
The facility is expected to host Google’s tensor processing units for training and running large AI models. Both Airtel and Adani are working as infrastructure partners for Google, with Airtel focusing mainly on connectivity and telecom infrastructure, including high-capacity fibre networks.
