Tamil Nadu is making its mark as a major hub for data centres as the State on Tuesday signed MoUs for investments worth ₹9,000 crore with large companies for setting up of their data centres in the State, especially in Chennai. They were signed at the Tamil Nadu Investment Conclave held in Coimbatore in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin.
Adani Enterprises will invest ₹2,500 crore in a data centre (phase II) in Chennai; L&T will set up a data centre in Chennai at a cost of ₹2,000 crore; STT Global Data Centres, Singapore (phase II) will make an investment of ₹1,500 crore; Tapaz Info Parks, Singapore, will invest ₹1,500 crore; CtrlS will set up a data centre at a cost of ₹1,448 crore; and Nxtra by Airtel will invest in a data centre (phase II) at a cost ₹700 crore.
In addition, STT Global data Centres, Singapore, inaugurated its data centre (phase I) in Chennai which cost ₹500 crore.
Nxtra by Airtel inaugurated its data centre (phase I) in Chengalpattu district at an investment of ₹500 crore. A release by Nxtra by Airtel said that it has launched its new hyper-scale data centre park in Chennai. This is its third large data centre in Chennai. The 38 MW LEED certified facility is spread over 270,000 sq ft.
Also see: Nxtra by Airtel launches new hyperscale data centre park in Chennai
Strategic location
Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business, said, “This is a major milestone in our journey as we scale up aggressively to serve the emerging digital India opportunity. Chennai, with its strategic location and access to cable landing stations, has the potential to become a regional data centre hub for South Asia.”
Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai, has emerged as a major hub. Among the reasons for the trend are the submarine cables (combined capacity of 14.8 terabytes per second) landing in Chennai and the city’s geographic proximity to key Asian cities apart from availability of adequate real estate and power.