Canadian pension giant joins race to fund India’s AI-fueled data center boom

As planetary investors contention to money the infrastructure underpinning the artificial-intelligence boom, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s CPP Investments has committed up to ₹70 cardinal (about $741 million) to Indian information halfway relation CtrlS, betting connected India’s increasing relation successful the planetary buildout of unreality and AI infrastructure.

Under the concern announced connected Wednesday, CPP Investments volition put ₹40 cardinal (around $423 million) to get an 8.2% involvement successful CtrlS and perpetrate up to ₹30 cardinal (about $317 million) to a associated task to make hyperscale information halfway campuses crossed India.

CPP Investments volition ain 48% of the associated venture, portion CtrlS volition clasp the remaining 52%, the companies said successful a associated statement.

Founded successful 2007, CtrlS operates much than 15 information centers crossed India. The Hyderabad-based institution has been expanding its footprint to conscionable rising request from unreality providers, enterprises, and AI workloads.

India has go a large destination for information halfway and AI investments arsenic planetary exertion companies and investors ramp up spending to conscionable surging computing demand. Companies including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Uber person announced investments successful the state successful caller months, portion operators are rapidly expanding capableness amid a broader planetary contention to physique AI infrastructure.

“As 1 of the world’s fastest-growing integer markets, India represents an important pillar of our planetary information halfway strategy,” said CPP Investments’ planetary caput of existent assets Max Biagosch successful a statement.

CPP Investments, Canada’s largest pension investor, has been investing successful India since 2009 and had nett assets of astir $20 cardinal successful the state arsenic of March 31, making it 1 of the largest overseas organization investors successful the market.

The concern builds connected CPP Investments’ broader propulsion into integer infrastructure. The pension money said it has invested successful the information halfway assemblage since 2017 and has built a portfolio of assets and associated ventures crossed large markets worldwide.

The concern volition assistance CtrlS grow capableness and physique infrastructure tailored for AI workloads, said CtrlS laminitis and main enforcement Sridhar Pinnapureddy.

The CPP-CtrlS woody is the latest successful a drawstring of investments targeting India’s information halfway sector. Earlier this month, Blackstone-backed AirTrunk said it would put $30 cardinal to physique 5 gigawatts of information halfway capableness successful India by 2030. Meta, meanwhile, partnered with Reliance Industries past week connected a 168-megawatt AI-enabled information halfway successful the occidental authorities of Gujarat.

New Delhi has sought to presumption India arsenic a planetary hub for integer infrastructure done a scope of argumentation measures, including tax exemptions for overseas unreality providers connected services sold overseas done 2047, provided those workloads are tally from information centers located successful the country.

Indian conglomerates person besides accelerated enlargement plans to capitalize connected the opportunity. Adani Group and Tata Consultancy Services are among the companies that person unveiled large information halfway projects aimed astatine supporting AI and unreality workloads. In 2023, CtrlS announced plans to put $2 billion implicit six years to grow its information halfway footprint crossed India.

India’s increasing relation successful AI infrastructure has not yet been matched by akin advancement successful processing frontier AI models. While the state has a fistful of startups gathering indigenous AI models, including Sarvam, overmuch of the underlying AI exertion utilized by Indian companies continues to beryllium supplied by U.S. firms.

The accelerated buildout of information centers is besides expected to summation unit connected energy and h2o resources, highlighting some of the challenges that could travel India’s ambitions to go a large AI infrastructure hub.