India’s First 1-Gigawatt AI Data Centre To Open In Andhra Next Year

India’s first 1-gigawatt AI data centre is planned for Andhra Pradesh and will open next year, signaling a major jump in the country’s compute infrastructure ahead of the AI adoption wave. The facility is set to support large-scale AI workloads, fund growth in jobs and power a new ecosystem of innovation.

What the 1 GW AI data centre means for India’s digital infrastructure

The main keyword “1-gigawatt AI data centre” appears as India embarks on building high-capacity infrastructure to meet growing demands for AI and cloud services. A gigawatt of power capacity for a data centre is indicative of hyperscale operations: thousands of racks, tens of thousands of GPUs and massive cooling and power systems. In Andhra Pradesh, this investment is designed to address the exponential growth in AI compute, data storage and enterprise cloud use. It also marks a shift from incremental expansions to bold infrastructure moves.
For context, earlier data centre investments in India were in the hundreds of megawatts. A 1 GW facility is roughly ten times larger than many large projects, positioning India for global-scale compute presence rather than just domestic support. This facility is expected to enable industries from fintech to AI research to gaming, and contribute to India’s ambition to become a digital powerhouse.

Location, scale and strategic importance for Andhra Pradesh

Secondary keyword: Andhra Pradesh data centre
Andhra Pradesh has emerged as a preferred destination for data centre investment due to land availability, supportive policy frameworks and power supply potential including renewables. The state government has set ambitious targets for data centre capacity—running into multiple gigawatts over the coming years.
The 1 GW data centre is being proposed for Andhra Pradesh and will reportedly come online next year, making it the first of this scale in India. The facility is expected to load significant compute capacity and will be paired with renewable energy commitments and connectivity infrastructure to ensure sustainability and reliability. For the region, this means jobs, ecosystem development, improved digital infrastructure and ancillary investments in logistics, cooling systems and network links.

Technical and operational challenges of a gigawatt-scale facility

Secondary keyword: AI infrastructure India
A 1 GW AI data centre places significant demands on power, cooling and connectivity. Key technical challenges include securing a stable power supply, ideally through a mix of grid and renewable sources; managing high heat loads generated by thousands of GPUs or TPUs; building adequate fibre and network infrastructure for low latency; and ensuring redundancy for enterprise level service demands.
For example, every megawatt of compute load can consume tens of racks and hundreds of kilowatts of cooling. At 1 GW scale, that implies infrastructure on a massive campus footprint, robust logistics for operations, and planned phasing to bring modules online gradually. Data centres of this scale often roll out over multiple years, though this one is targeted to be operational by next year which means accelerated deployment.
Sustainability is also a key factor: using green energy, efficient cooling technologies (such as liquid immersion or outdoor air cooling) and circular water usage are increasingly standard for hyperscale facilities. For India, the sustainability angle helps meet climate and policy goals.

Broader impact: jobs, ecosystem and digital economy

Secondary keyword: AI investment India
The new facility is anticipated to generate not only construction jobs but ongoing operations roles in data centre management, network engineering, support services and security. It will also attract connected industries such as cloud service providers, AI startups, chip firms and research institutions needing access to high powered compute locally.
For the digital economy, a local large scale AI data centre lowers latency, reduces reliance on overseas infrastructure and encourages domestic AI model training and deployment. Enterprises in India can now plan for large model development, big data analytics and hybrid cloud deployments with compute located in-country.
On the innovation front, the facility may enable Indian researchers and universities to access high performance compute closer to home, reducing data transfer bottlenecks and enabling new AI applications in disciplines such as healthcare, agriculture, language processing and climate modelling.

Takeaways

• India’s first 1-gigawatt AI data centre in Andhra Pradesh marks a strategic infrastructure leap.
• The facility will support large scale AI workloads, enterprise cloud services and talent ecosystem growth.
• Technical challenges around power, cooling and connectivity are significant but being addressed via phased rollout and sustainability measures.
• The data centre will strengthen India’s digital economy, innovation ecosystem and provide jobs while reducing reliance on foreign infrastructure.

FAQs
Q: What does “1-gigawatt AI data centre” mean?
A: It refers to a data centre with power draw capacity in the range of one gigawatt, enabling hyperscale compute infrastructure designed for AI workloads, large model training and enterprise cloud services.
Q: Why is Andhra Pradesh chosen for this project?
A: The state offers supportive policy frameworks, available land, planned power supply including renewables, and has set data centre capacity targets, making it attractive for large infrastructure.
Q: When will the data centre open and who will benefit?
A: It is targeted to open next year. Beneficiaries include enterprises needing large compute, cloud service providers, AI startups, research institutions and job-seekers in data centre operations.
Q: How will this project impact India’s AI and digital economy?
A: It will provide domestic computing infrastructure at scale, reduce latency, enable local AI model development, attract connected industries and help India move toward digital sovereignty.