HCLTech to set up AI data centre in Odisha with Rs 14,257-crore investment

Alongside, HCLTech will establish a Global Technology Centre (GTC) in Bhubaneswar to develop and deliver AI-powered digital solutions for global enterprises. The centre, expected to begin operations in 2028, is likely to have the capacity to accommodate 5,000 people.

The company said the project would generate direct and indirect employment in the state while engaging with local educational institutions and the state government to build a talent pipeline focused on next-generation skills.

Full-Stack Expansion

The announcement comes amid HCLTech recently expressing its willingness to “build, co-innovate and shape the next wave of AI”.  During its June-quarter earnings, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer C Vijayakumar highlighted the company’s partnership with Sarvam, in which HCLTech invested $150 million (around Rs 1,447 crore) in June. He had said the partnership would combine Sarvam’s AI research capabilities with HCLTech’s enterprise relationships, engineering expertise and software intellectual property (IP) to build a full-stack AI platform spanning models, applications and managed services.

Vijayakumar had also announced plans to invest up to Rs 3,500 crore in building AI data centres that could eventually scale up to 50 MW of capacity. “The business is shifting from physical infrastructure to higher value, AI ready full stack solutions,” he said, adding that Physical AI will be a new growth vector for HCLTech. “We will combine our capabilities across AI data centre design, DevOps and cloud operations, as well as our software portfolio with a new AI data centre business for this.”

This move makes HCLTech the sole Indian IT services company with investments spanning across multiple layers of the AI value chain.

Last year, its rival Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) had announced its foray into the AI infrastructure space, with reports indicating that it has acquired land parcels in Visakhapatnam and Pune for potential data centre development.

Industry Outlook

The Odisha project strengthens India’s sovereign AI ecosystem ecosystem by combining HCLTech’s full-stack AI capabilities with Sarvam’s AI foundational AI models to develop sector-specific AI applications for private and public sector clients. The company also intends to support multilingual AI services for last mile delivery, it said.

Speaking during the June-quarter earnings conference, Vijayakumar had said the partnership with Sarvam would focus on developing smaller, specialised and cost-effective AI models with stronger enterprise use cases. “This meaningfully opens up the Indian sovereign AI market for us across industries and common sector,” he said.

“HCLTech has been a flagbearer of India’s technology industry. In line with the Digital India and Atmanirbhar Bharat vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister Sh. Narendra Modi, we strive to be an enabler of India’s sovereign AI ecosystem with differentiated offerings across the value chain through focused investments and partnerships. We are pleased to start this endeavour in partnership with Odisha government and Sarvam,” Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra said.

Two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed for both undertakings. The AI data centre MoU was signed by HCLTech, Sarvam and the Odisha government in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, IT Minister Mukesh Mahaling, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Vijayakumar and Sarvam co-founder Pratyush Kumar. A separate MoU was signed between HCLTech and the Odisha government for the GTC.

According to a KPMG report, India’s installed data centre capacity of about 2 GW is expected to exceed 8 GW by 2030, driven by rising AI demand. Demand for global capability centres is also projected to nearly triple over the same period.