Sydney-based data centre developer AirTrunk announced on Friday that it plans to invest $30 billion in India within the next four years to construct roughly 5 gigawatts of new data centre capacity in the country. The commitment follows the company's April entry into the Indian market through its acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra.
AirTrunk, which is backed by Blackstone and Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), said its existing Indian development pipeline comprises about 600 megawatts of capacity across key metropolitan markets including Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. The company indicated that the scope of that pipeline will expand as it deploys the new capital.
Chief Executive Robin Khuda, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, characterized India as one of the firm’s most important long-term investment destinations. Khuda said the meetings left the company with a heightened sense of urgency around AI-related investment.
"One of the strongest messages we took away from this week was a genuine sense of urgency. There is a recognition that AI investment is a global race and that capital will flow to places that are prepared to compete for it," Khuda said. "Every market has strengths and challenges. What investors consistently look for is certainty, coordination and speed."
The company’s announcement comes as India seeks to attract foreign firms by offering tax breaks for companies that operate from domestic data centres. The broader corporate landscape in India has also seen large-scale commitments to AI and data infrastructure, with Reliance and Adani each making substantial pledges earlier in the year.
AirTrunk’s stated investment timeline - the next four years to reach roughly 5 gigawatts - signals an accelerated build-out compared with the firm’s current 600 megawatt pipeline in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad. The firm did not provide additional details on project phasing, financing tranches or specific site schedules beyond the headline commitment and existing pipeline figures.
The announcement adds a major international developer to India’s growing data centre sector, reinforcing the country’s position as a focal point for AI and cloud infrastructure investment. Company executives emphasized the importance of policy certainty and administrative coordination as factors that influence where capital ultimately flows.
Markets and sectors affected: data centre development, cloud infrastructure, AI investment, large-scale commercial real estate and associated construction and services.