RMZ to ramp up data center capacity with $35 billion push, exec says

Indian diversified real estate and investment firm RMZ plans to scale its data center capacity to 2-3 gigawatts over the next five years as part of a $35 billion investment push, a senior company executive said.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company, which currently has 250 megawatts of capacity, is in the final stages of discussions for three data center ‌projects that ⁠would take ⁠its total capacity to more than 1 gigawatt, Deepak Chhabria, president of RMZ Infrastructure, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

The firm also plans to acquire land by year-end that could support 2 gigawatts of data center capacity, he added. In April, RMZ announced plans to invest more than $35 billion over the next five years to build co-location data centers and AI factories, as ⁠well as ‌a potential initial public offering. Global technology firms and Indian conglomerates have pledged billions of dollars toward AI infrastructure and data centers, making ⁠India one of the most fiercely contested markets for computing capacity. The country's digital infrastructure sector is expected to attract more than $50 billion in planned spending across data centers, cloud and AI ecosystems.


"We are seeing only positive signs from some of the hyperscalers, and I think by the middle of this year, we will start ramping up capacity as we get clients signed up," Chhabria said, without naming ‌customers.

The company, which operates across major Indian cities, including Bengaluru, Mumbai and Hyderabad, sees its data center expansion as an entry into allied businesses such as graphics processing ⁠units (GPUs), power infrastructure and software, Chhabria said.

"Now we will use that as a stepping stone eventually to go up the food chain and build the bottom ​layer of power," he said, referring to the company's plans to expand deeper into the infrastructure that supports AI and cloud computing.

RMZ built its existing 250-megawatt capacity through a joint venture with UK-based Colt Data Centre Services, and the two companies are exploring growth opportunities, Chhabria said.