Brookfield, Digital Realty JV expects India data centre to start operations in 2023

BAM Digital Realty, a joint venture between Digital Realty and Brookfield Infrastructure, has began the construction work on its first data centre facility in India and expects the facility in Chennai’s Ambattur Industrial Estate to be operational later this year.

The facility is part of a campus which is designed for a maximum capacity of 100 megawatts (MW) upon full buildout. The first phase of the project will provide 20MW critical capacity to support the growing demand for digital infrastructure in India.

“Our campus in Chennai is the beginning of our journey in India. We are committed to supporting the burgeoning digital ecosystem of the country… Our decision to start with Chennai is driven by the continuing rapid growth in the Indian data centre industry supporting the massive digital transformation that the country is experiencing,” said Seema Ambastha, Chief Executive Officer, BAM Digital Realty that operates over data centres globally.

As per a previous report, Global alternative asset manager Brookfield Asset Management’s flagship listed infrastructure company Brookfield Infrastructure and NYSE-listed Digital Realty’s joint venture BAM Digital Realty is moving further with its plan to develop, own and operate data centers in India.

In one of its first-ever direct acquisition of land parcels for the development of a large data center in the country, BAM Digital Realty had then bought a 10-acre land parcel in Ambattur for over Rs 230 crore.

“With our first data centre in Chennai, we are starting our journey to support the Digital India vision of the Indian government aimed at data inclusivity for all. We have plans to expand further across the country,” stated Arpit Agrawal, Managing Director, Head of Infrastructure, India & Middle East, Brookfield Infrastructure Group.

According to Serene Nah, Managing Director and Head of Asia Pacific, Digital Realty, the Indian government’s extensive push to make India a hub for global data to support new technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning and analytics will only continue to accelerate the digital transformation of Indian enterprises.

In July, Digital Realty, the largest global provider of cloud- and carrier-neutral data center, colocation and interconnection solutions, and Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. entered a 50:50 partnership for this India-specific venture.

Data centers in India are growing as the most attractive growth opportunity for global institutional investors and leading developers. Investments are flowing into the data centre markets, with multiple new markets created simultaneously, along with the rapid development of campus sizes found in the most established global cities.

India is a high-growth market, with data center demand likely to significantly increase, driven by rapidly growing data consumption, digitization of the economy, the onset of 5G and data localization trends. SiliconIndia