Meta strikes first AI data center deal in India with Reliance

As major tech companies compete to secure the computational power needed for training and deploying AI systems, Meta has made its first AI infrastructure investment in India through a data center partnership with conglomerate Reliance Industries, a market that is quickly becoming a major hub for AI infrastructure.

Announced on Wednesday, this partnership will see Meta and Reliance collaborate on a 168-megawatt AI-enabled data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat. This deepens a relationship that began with Meta’s multibillion-dollar investment in Reliance’s Jio Platforms and later evolved into a $100 million joint venture launched last year to create enterprise AI solutions for customers in India and abroad.

The deal arrives as India solidifies its position as a natural destination for AI infrastructure investments. Tech giants are seeking new regions for data centers due to surging demand for computing power to train and deploy AI models. Companies like Microsoft, Amazon, Google, OpenAI, and Uber have recently announced AI and cloud infrastructure investments in the country, which has rapidly expanded its data center footprint in recent years.

The rush into India goes beyond global tech firms. Earlier this week, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk announced plans to invest $30 billion to build 5 gigawatts of data center capacity in the country by 2030. Meanwhile, Indian conglomerates including Adani and Tata Consultancy Services have also unveiled major data center expansion plans aimed at supporting AI workloads.

New Delhi has worked to attract such investments through policy incentives, including tax exemptions through 2047 for foreign cloud providers on services sold overseas, as long as those workloads are run from Indian data centers.

India’s installed data center capacity has risen from about 375 megawatts in 2020 to around 1.5 gigawatts in 2025, according to government data. Industry estimates suggest that figure could grow more than fivefold to over 8 gigawatts by the end of the decade, driven by cloud adoption, AI workloads, and rising demand for local data processing.

The Meta-Reliance agreement marks the latest chapter in a relationship that has steadily deepened since Meta invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms in 2020. Since then, the companies have expanded their collaboration across digital services, enterprise AI, and now the infrastructure that underpins next-generation AI systems.

As part of the partnership, Meta is leasing capacity at Reliance’s new Jamnagar facility, which the companies said will be powered by renewable energy and cooled using desalinated seawater. Meta has committed to covering the full cost of the energy and water required to support its operations there.

Reliance said the 168-megawatt facility will be ready within two years and can be expanded over time. The data center will also support Meta’s global infrastructure and AI computing requirements, more directly connecting India to the company’s worldwide network of AI facilities.

Under the agreement, Reliance said it would provide end-to-end services ranging from design and construction to renewable power, connectivity, and ongoing operations. This reflects the conglomerate’s ambition to become a one-stop shop for AI infrastructure among global technology companies.

Separately, Meta said it had contracted nearly 1 gigawatt of new renewable energy capacity in India through agreements with CleanMax and Fourth Partner Energy, which will supplement the renewable power supporting the Jamnagar facility.

The companies did not disclose the value of the agreement, the type of AI workloads that will run from the facility, or whether Meta plans additional AI infrastructure investments in India.