AirTrunk to invest $30 billion in 5 GW Indian data network

The massive commitment from AirTrunk signals a shift in hyperscale investment toward India as a primary node for global AI workloads. For streaming providers, this scale addresses regional latency and data sovereignty requirements as India’s digital economy is projected to hit $126 billion by 2030. AirTrunk’s entry intensifies the competition for power and land against established players like Adani and Amazon. The success of this 5 GW rollout hinges on navigating high-voltage power grid constraints and state-level policy support as discussed in founder Robin Khuda’s June 2026 government meetings. Watch for further land allotments in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as a signal of phase-one execution.

The AirTrunk announcement follows a surge of high-density infrastructure activity in India, largely driven by generative AI requirements and sovereign data policies. Per Reuters and The Economic Times, February 2026 saw OpenAI partner with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop a 1 GW AI-optimized data center. This project, part of OpenAI’s 'Stargate' initiative, utilizes TCS’s HyperVault subsidiary to provide localized compute for advanced model training and inference. OpenAI also confirmed plans to open new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru later in 2026 to support its expanding Indian workforce and user base.

Concurrently, other hyperscalers are finalizing multi-billion dollar commitments to ensure regional capacity. As of April 2026, Amazon Web Services (AWS) confirmed it is on track to invest $12.7 billion in Indian cloud infrastructure by 2030, per Investment Monitor. AWS currently operates two full regions in Mumbai and Hyderabad, seeking to serve a market where average wireless data consumption has surpassed 25 GB per user monthly. This investment matches India's broader AI mission, which has received approximately $1.2 billion in federal funding to catalyze domestic computing power.

Local conglomerates are also scaling up to meet this demand through strategic partnerships. In May 2026, Uber announced its first Indian data center in collaboration with the Adani Group, which intends to spend $100 billion on renewable-powered infrastructure by 2035. According to reports from BNE IntelliNews in May 2026, Adani is also co-developing a $15 billion AI campus in Visakhapatnam with Google and Bharti Airtel. These efforts reflect a push to lower construction costs—currently $6-7 million per megawatt in India—compared to mature Asia-Pacific markets like Singapore or Japan.