Meta and Reliance Bring AI Data Centre Push to Jamnagar

Meta and Reliance Industries have announced a major AI infrastructure partnership that will place Jamnagar, Gujarat, at the centre of India’s next wave of hyperscale computing. Under the agreement, Reliance will build a 168 MW AI-enabled data centre in Jamnagar, and Meta will lease the capacity with an option to scale the facility in future. This will be Meta’s first AI-enabled data centre in India and a significant addition to its global infrastructure network.

The project is important because artificial intelligence needs massive computing power, high-speed connectivity, reliable energy, cooling systems and large-scale data infrastructure. As AI models become more advanced, companies need specialised data centres that can handle heavy workloads for training, inference, cloud services, digital products and real-time user demand. Meta’s decision to build this capacity in India shows the growing importance of the country as both a digital market and an AI infrastructure destination.

Jamnagar gives the project a strong industrial base. Reliance already has major energy and infrastructure assets in the region, and Meta has highlighted access to power, renewable energy support and network connectivity as key advantages. The facility will be supported by renewable energy and cooled with desalinated seawater. Meta has also said it will cover the full cost of energy and water supporting the data centre.

For Reliance, the project strengthens its position as a full-service AI infrastructure provider. The company is expected to handle the design, construction, utilities, renewable power, network connectivity and managed operations for the facility. This gives Reliance a larger role in the physical backbone of India’s AI economy, beyond telecom, digital services, retail technology and cloud-linked platforms.

For Meta, the deal deepens a relationship with Reliance that has grown over several years. Meta made a $5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms in 2020, and the two companies later expanded their partnership through enterprise AI work linked to Meta’s open-source AI models. The Jamnagar data centre now takes that cooperation from digital products and business platforms into hard infrastructure.

The 168 MW capacity also shows the scale of AI’s future demand. A data centre of this size is built for heavy computing loads, not ordinary web hosting. It can support AI applications across social media, messaging, content recommendation, generative AI, business tools and future digital services. With hundreds of millions of Indians using Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp every day, local infrastructure can help serve users with better speed, reliability and processing capacity.

The clean energy angle is another major part of the announcement. Meta has separately announced nearly 1 GW of new clean and renewable energy agreements in India. This includes 837 MW of new solar and wind projects with CleanMax in Rajasthan and Karnataka, taking Meta’s cumulative announced capacity with CleanMax to more than 900 MW. It also includes 88 MW of solar and wind projects with Fourth Partner Energy across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.

This development comes at a time when India is seeing a surge in data centre investment driven by AI, cloud adoption, digital services and demand from global technology companies. Reuters reported that India’s data centre market is projected to nearly double to $13.11 billion by 2034, supported by digitalisation, cloud growth and rising AI workloads.

The larger message is clear. AI leadership depends on chips, power, data centres, fibre networks, renewable energy and skilled talent. India already has a large user base, a fast-growing digital economy and strong telecom reach. The Meta-Reliance project adds another layer: global-scale AI infrastructure built on Indian soil.

In simple terms, this agreement turns Jamnagar into a strategic AI infrastructure location. Reliance brings land, power, connectivity and execution capability. Meta brings global AI demand, platform scale and long-term digital investment. Together, the project signals that India is moving from being a large technology market to becoming a serious base for AI computing infrastructure.