Adani Group is planning to aggressively expand its artificial intelligence data centres and the energy infrastructure needed to support them, which means possible setting up of nuclear power plants.
Jeet Adani, the youngest son of billionaire Gautam Adani, told Nikkei Asia that data centres have become a major area for the Adani group, with current growth already going beyond what was earlier planned for 2030. Demand, he noted, continues to increase at a fast pace. Jeet also said that India is well placed to build AI data centres because of lower costs and recent changes in energy rules, which give the country a “natural advantage”.
Adani ‘one of biggest investors’ in Indian nuclear space
The Adani Group, which is developing this kind of infrastructure in India for global technology companies like Google, sees itself as a major player in the country’s nuclear energy sector, Nikkei cited Jeet Adani saying. Jeet himself looks after the group’s digital business and airports. His comments came soon after the Parliament passed a new law last week that allows private companies to enter the tightly regulated nuclear energy sector.
Speaking to Nikkei ahead of the launch of Navi Mumbai International Airport, Jeet said that the group plans to invest around Rs 1 trillion over the next five years. The money will be used to build new airports and modernise the existing ones.
Adani Group plans massive AI data centre expansion across India
As part of its broader infrastructure push, the Adani Group will be investing up to $5 billion in building artificial intelligence data centre projects for Google in India. This follows Google’s announcement in October that it would invest $15 billion over the next five years to set up AI data centres in the country.
The Adani Group aims to eventually develop AI data centres with capacities of more than 1 gigawatt across multiple locations, including Vizag, Navi Mumbai, Noida and Hyderabad. The focus will be only on building and managing the physical infrastructure and related facilities needed to run these centres.
Adani clarified that the group does not plan to enter the cloud services business. Instead, it will limit its role to providing space, power and other support systems, while technology companies like Google will bring in and operate their own computing equipment.
Adani eyes nuclear power to fuel energy-hungry AI data centres
The Adani Group plans to use its large renewable energy base to meet the growing power needs of AI data centres. Jeet Adani told Nikkei that the Group’s clean energy arm, Adani Green Energy, already leads the country in solar and wind power, putting it in a strong position to supply large amounts of green electricity.
He said the group can provide as much renewable power as major global tech firms may need and can build energy infrastructure quickly and in stages, based on demand.
At the same time, the Adani group is closely studying nuclear power, but any move into the sector will depend on how much electricity the data centres require. Jeet added that nuclear energy was ignored for years, even though it can play a key role in meeting long-term power needs. Under this plan, the group would own and operate the power plants, while reactor construction would be handled by specialised partners.
The push comes as Parliament passed the SHANTI Bill on Friday, which replaces existing atomic energy laws and opens the nuclear sector further to private players. The new law allows Indian companies to build, own and operate nuclear plants and reactors.
The government aims to raise India’s nuclear power capacity from the current 8 gigawatts to 100 gigawatts by 2047. At present, nuclear energy accounts for just 3% of the country’s total electricity generation.
“If India plays its cards right, it can easily convince the hyperscalers to build 10 GW of data center capacity in the next five years,” Adani said. He further added that he sees a demand for 50 GW of renewable electricity “coming just from the data centers”.