In 5 Years, India Should See a Big Boom in AI Data Centres: Brookfield

Global investment firm Brookfield Asset Management believes that India will see a huge rise in AI data centres over the next five years, as the country plans to add nearly 6.5 gigawatts (GW) of AI data centre capacity.

Data centres are huge buildings filled with powerful computers that store, process and manage digital information.

AI data centres are specifically designed to handle artificial intelligence operations such as answering questions, creating content and analysing large amounts of data.

Brookfield stated that the demand for AI services in India is expected to grow rapidly as more businesses and organisations start using AI.

The 6.5 GW estimate is for India’s entire data centre industry and not just Brookfield’s own projects.

At the moment, India has around 1.5 GW of data centre capacity. Most of these facilities are used for cloud computing, websites, online services and business applications rather than AI.

Brookfield expects these traditional data centres to handle more than 3 GW of capacity over the next few years. On top of that, India is expected to build new AI-focused data centres, taking the total industry capacity to around 6.5 GW. The firm’s data centre business in India, called Digital Connexion, currently has more than 160 megawatts (MW) of capacity. Of this, 60 MW is already operational and fully occupied by customers, while the remaining capacity is under construction.

Digital Connexion is a joint venture between Brookfield, Digital Realty, a US-based data centre company, and Reliance Industries. Brookfield also plans to expand its clean energy business in India. The company expects to add between 4 GW and 4.5 GW of renewable energy capacity this year to help meet growing demand, including from data centres.

Brookfield currently manages more than USD 32 billion worth of investments across different sectors in India. The company plans to increase this to more than USD 100 billion over the next five years, showing its confidence in India’s long-term growth.