Meta Platforms, parent of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is making a significant move into India’s digital infrastructure by leasing a 500-megawatt hyperscale AI data centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The facility, located in Paradesipalem village about 25 km from Visakhapatnam city along the Kolkata-Srikakulam highway, will be developed by Sify Technologies with an investment of ₹15,266 crore (approximately $1.8-2 billion). This landmark partnership marks Meta’s first large-scale data infrastructure lease in India and positions Andhra Pradesh as a rising hub in the country’s rapidly expanding data centre ecosystem.
Sify Technologies will build and own the facility, while Meta will be the sole end-user lessee, fueling its next decade of AI workloads, including generative AI, recommender systems, and future AR/VR applications. The project aligns with Andhra Pradesh’s ambitious plan to develop a 6 GW data centre ecosystem, complementing similar investments by Google and Reliance Industries in the region. In addition to the data centre, Meta plans to land its “Waterworth” subsea cable at Sify’s local landing station, enhancing connectivity between India, the US, Brazil, and South Africa.
This strategic investment underscores Andhra Pradesh’s emergence as a pivotal data and AI infrastructure hub on India’s east coast, promising thousands of new jobs and significant technological advancement. It also reflects a broader trend among global tech giants favoring large-scale hyperscale deployments through leasing models to rapidly expand their compute footprints in key growth markets.
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