India Emerges As Top APAC Data Centre Market Outside China As Live IT Capacity Quadruples: Report

New Delhi - India has become the leading data centre market in the Asia-Pacific region, outside of China, according to a recent report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (NEF). The country's live IT capacity has quadrupled in the past six years, reaching a total of 1.7 gigawatts (GW). There is significant potential for growth, with 1.3GW currently under construction and another 3.2GW in projects that have secured land, power, and permits.

Mumbai, located in the state of Maharashtra, is the primary hub for data centres in India, accounting for 55 percent of the country's total live capacity. Maharashtra is also the leading state for announced investment in data centres, with domestic conglomerates committing $210 billion, constituting 45 percent of the total announced investment.

The report highlights that strong scores in energy availability and fibre connectivity make India an attractive destination for building data centres in the APAC region. Global tech giants such as Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are the next-largest investors, with a combined $84 billion announced. A majority of the investments are targeted towards large hyperscale AI campuses.

According to NEF, India's data centre electricity demand is expected to increase more than eightfold to 91 terawatt-hours in 2035 from 11 terawatt-hours in 2025. This is driven by the increasing number of hyperscale AI campuses and the focus of leading tech companies on achieving net-zero targets by 2030, which will lead to a rise in the utilization of renewable electricity.