Industry giants rush into the Indian market! Meta (META.US) partners with Reliance Industries to build an AI data center.

Meta Platforms (META.US) is collaborating with Reliance Industries to build its first artificial intelligence data center in India, further fueling the investment frenzy in the global technology infrastructure sector. The two companies announced on Wednesday that as part of the agreement, Reliance Industries, owned by Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, will build a 168-megawatt data center in Jamnagar, which will be leased by Meta, the parent company of Facebook. Reliance Industries also operates the world's largest single-site refinery in Jamnagar. The two sides did not disclose more details, but the project could potentially be expanded in the future. Following the news, Reliance Industries' stock price rose by 2.5% at one point, before narrowing its gains. India is attracting more and more investments from large technology companies, with Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) and Microsoft Corporation (MSFT.US) alone investing as much as $52 billion this year, highlighting India's rising status as a key growth market. Most of the funds will be used to build the much-needed infrastructure in India to develop and operate artificial intelligence services, which is crucial for the Indian government in realizing its vision of creating an artificial intelligence industry that can rival China and the United States. Another major collaboration announced this year is the partnership between OpenAI and the Tata Group in India to build a data center with an initial capacity of 100 megawatts, with plans to gradually expand it to 1 gigawatt. It is estimated that the cost of a 1-gigawatt data center is between $35 billion and $50 billion. The collaboration between Meta and Reliance Industries further strengthens the relationship between the two parties. The partnership began around 2020 when Meta (then known as Facebook) invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms, the technology and telecom company under Reliance Industries. Meta's CEO Mark Zuckerberg stated in a press release, "This world-class facility in Jamnagar will help us expand our artificial intelligence infrastructure globally while deepening our long-term investment in the Indian economy." In addition, Meta has signed an agreement with the Indian renewable energy company Clean Max Enviro Energy Solutions to purchase 837 megawatts of renewable energy. This news caused Clean Max's stock price to rise by over 15%.