According to a report by JLL, the data centre industry in India is set for expansion, requiring an additional 10 million square feet of real estate space, and attracting investments totalling $5.7 billion.
As per the report, data centre capacity is projected to increase by 791 megawatts (MW) by 2026. The surge will be due to the rising adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), leading to higher power consumption.
The report noted that as AI usage gains pace, the demand for Indian data centres is expected to be in the range of 650-800 MW during 2024-26.
It further added that the increase in computing power and emerging applications will fuel robust demand for the data centre industry shortly. In addition, cloud service providers (CSPs), offering information technology (IT) infrastructure for data storage and computing power via the internet, are adjusting their strategies to accommodate AI-driven demand. They are also committing to increased investments to support AI-driven expansion.
Furthermore, it noted that during the second half (H2) of 2023, there was a 12 per cent increase in absorption to 81 MW compared to 72 MW during the same period last year. This growth can be attributed to CSPs gaining momentum after a pause in the H1 2023. Moreover, in Mumbai, absorption nearly doubled during this period as CSPs renewed their pace of absorption.
