Nxtra’s AI-ready 1 GW bet rides India’s GPU data centre surge

India’s AI boom is reshaping the country’s data centre industry, with demand shifting rapidly from traditional cloud hosting to GPU-intensive infrastructure for AI training and inference. Betting on this transition, Bharti Airtel’s data centre arm Nxtra plans to expand to 1 GW of AI-ready capacity over the coming years, as enterprises and hyperscalers accelerate AI deployments, Nxtra’s Chief Executive Officer Ashish Arora said.

The company is expanding its hyperscale footprint across Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Pune, Delhi NCR and Hyderabad, while strengthening its edge computing network to support AI, cloud and data localisation requirements.

“We are not just scaling data centre capacity, we are building an integrated digital infrastructure ecosystem that is intelligent by design, with modular architecture, high-density racks, liquid-ready cooling and low-carbon resilient power to support GPU-intensive AI workloads,” Arora told TechCircle.

India’s data centre market is undergoing a structural shift as enterprises move beyond conventional cloud infrastructure towards AI-driven computing that requires specialised facilities with high-density power, advanced cooling and low-latency connectivity.

According to Arora, demand is being driven by both hyperscalers and enterprises across financial services, e-commerce, healthcare, manufacturing, gaming and the public sector.

“We are witnessing a fundamental shift in data centre demand. Enterprises are moving beyond traditional virtual machine-based workloads to AI-driven computing, increasing the need for GPU-ready infrastructure, low-latency connectivity and robust security frameworks,” he said.

Nxtra is positioning itself as an integrated digital infrastructure provider by combining AI-ready data centres with Airtel’s nationwide fibre network, global subsea cable connectivity, cloud, cybersecurity and edge infrastructure. TechCircle