India poised for rapid data centre growth driven by AI demand, demographics & proximity to Middle East: Goldman Sachs
New Delhi, June 22
India is poised to expand its footprint in the data center market at a rapid pace, anchored by "favorable demographics, a deep pool of engineering talent, and a strategic geographic proximity to the Middle East," according to a Goldman Sachs Research report.
The report highlighted India, Japan, and the Philippines as the primary growth engines in the Asian region. While government-backed initiatives drive aggressive expansion in Japan, and reduced red tape aids the Philippines, India stands out due to its structural and geographic advantages.
The broader outlook for data centers across Asia remains exceptionally robust, featuring a broad and steep growth curve. Traditional cloud workloads continue to expand alongside new graphics processing unit (GPU) and artificial intelligence-first demand, which increases the total market size instead of shifting existing capacity.
"The outlook for data centers in Asia is exceptionally robust, characterized by a broad and steep growth curve," the report stated. "Traditional cloud workloads continue to grow alongside new GPU and AI-first demand, expanding the total market size rather than simply redistributing it."
However, the report mentioned that regional operators face significant infrastructure bottlenecks, specifically regarding power availability, which affects construction timelines and delivery capabilities across Asia.
Resolving grid infrastructure issues typically requires years or decades, making power a primary constraint. To circumvent resource limitations, operators are adopting tailored regional approaches.
As per the report, in Mumbai, facilities are sourcing treated wastewater from nearby purification plants rather than drawing from potable water sources, allowing them to balance water scarcity while achieving highly efficient power usage effectiveness levels.
The report further detailed how the rise of artificial intelligence is altering customer timelines and infrastructure designs. Single-tenant AI customers are committing to orders well before construction starts to secure bespoke designs, whereas traditional multi-tenant customers expect much shorter lead times.
"The rise of AI is fundamentally changing customer timelines and infrastructure needs," the report added. "Single-tenant AI customers are committing to orders well before construction starts to lock in bespoke designs, whereas traditional multi-tenant customers expect much shorter lead times."
Geopolitics and regulatory shifts have introduced higher compliance overhead across the sector, forcing operators to extend due diligence beyond direct customers to ultimate end-users and supply chain participants.
"Furthermore, new AI-first customers and neoclouds move at a radically different commercial speed, pushing for modular and prefabricated designs to compress delivery timelines," the report added.
Despite these operational adjustments, the underlying demand momentum for data center capacity in the region has not been deterred.
— ANI
Reader Comments
This is exciting but also worrying - our water resources are already stretched. Good to see Mumbai using treated wastewater for cooling, but we need similar innovations across all metro cities. The AI demand is real though, I see it in my work daily.
As someone in the cloud infrastructure space, this report aligns with what we're seeing on ground. The prefab and modular designs for AI-first customers are indeed accelerating timelines. India needs to streamline approvals for data center projects though.
Goldman Sachs ka report hai toh trust karna chahiye, but I wonder about the power situation. We have frequent blackouts even in tier-2 cities. Jaise jaise AI aur cloud expand hoga, waise power infra bhi upgrade karna padega.
India's engineering talent pool is indeed unmatched globally. This is our moment to become the data center hub for Asia. Just hope the government keeps policies stable and helps with land acquisition near renewable energy sources. ☀️
Being from Chennai, I hope southern states also benefit from this boom. We have good tech ecosystems in Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune. But the power bottleneck is real - I work in a data center company and delays due to grid issues are common.
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