Every big tech company needs more computing power to run AI, and India is fast becoming the place they pick.
Meta just made its first big AI bet there.
It teamed up with Reliance Industries on a 168-megawatt data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
A Partnership Years In The Making
This isn't Meta and Reliance's first deal.
Mark Zuckerberg's company has been deepening ties with Mukesh Ambani's group for years.
Back in 2020, Meta put $5.7 billion into Reliance's Jio Platforms.
The two later added a $100 million venture to build AI tools for firms.
The new data center is the biggest step yet in their race for computing power.
Reliance will handle it all, from design and building to power and daily running.
That makes it a one-stop shop for the AI buildout.
The site will also plug into Meta's global network of data centers.
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Why Everyone Wants Into India
Meta is far from alone, as Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and OpenAI have all announced AI or cloud projects in India.
And this week, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk said it would spend $30 billion on data centers there by 2030.
Local giants like Adani and Tata have unveiled their own data center plans too.
New Delhi is helping with tax breaks that run all the way to 2047 for foreign cloud firms.
India's data center power has grown from about 375 megawatts in 2020 to roughly 1.5 gigawatts in 2025.
It could pass 8 gigawatts by the end of the decade.
India wants the jobs and the know-how that come with these projects.
Meta gets cheaper land, steady power, and a fast-growing market.
The Green Angle
Data centers are power-hungry, so Meta is trying to keep this one clean.
It will run on clean energy and cool its servers with sea water instead of fresh water.
Cooling big server halls usually takes huge amounts of fresh water, so using sea water eases the strain on local supplies.
Meta will also foot the entire bill for the energy and water it uses there.
It signed deals for nearly a gigawatt of new clean power in India too, through CleanMax and Fourth Partner Energy.
Think of a gigawatt as about enough to power a small city.
That's roughly how much computing power the AI race now runs on.
What To Watch
The companies didn't say how much the deal is worth or what AI work will run there.
So watch whether Meta adds more sites in India after this one.
Reliance says the Jamnagar site will be ready within two years and can grow from there.
India, for its part, wants to be a maker of AI, not just a buyer.
This deal is one more brick in that plan.
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