Gulf turmoil pushes 200–500 MW data centre demand towards India

Escalating conflict and recent attacks on data centres in parts of the Gulf have triggered a rush among hyperscalers and enterprise clients to shift workloads out of West Asia, with India emerging as a preferred alternative hub. Industry executives say Indian data centre operators have, in the past three to four weeks, received enquiries for an additional 200–500 MW of capacity from Middle East customers and global cloud providers seeking to ring‑fence risks in locations such as Dubai and Bahrain.

Providers including Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure are evaluating plans to reroute portions of their West Asia data centre workloads to India, leveraging the country’s growing data centre footprint, lower build costs and relatively stable regulatory environment. India closed 2025 with over 1.5 GW of operational capacity and could see around 500 MW of fresh supply added in 2026, putting it in a strong position to absorb diverted demand even as it continues to cater to domestic AI and cloud growth. A senior industry executive quoted in a recent report noted that the crisis “creates a once‑in‑a‑decade opportunity for India to position itself as the de‑facto disaster recovery and secondary hub for the wider region,” but warned that timely execution on land, power and clearances will be critical to converting intent into long‑term contracts.

CT Bureau