Investments Boost Chennai, India As New Global Data Hub

Connection network in dark servers data center room storage systems 3D rendering

Chennai: Amid growing investment, Chennai will soon be recognised as the most prominent private data centre hub in the South.

As per recent reports, as at least six companies in the data centre space have committed to invest more than Rs 12,000 crore in Chennai.

Also, analysts expect many more projects expected to crop up soon in Chennai.

Besides the progressive policies of the local government, Chennai also offers a great opportunity to the data centre industry to thrive and flourish with its capable human resources.

Submarine cable

Chennai, with its reputation of being the gateway for global Internet companies in India, is making a strong pitch to be the second major data hub in the country.

“Tamil Nadu’s multiple submarine cable landing stations, surplus power and proximity to key Asian hubs make the state a leading data centre destination. Recent spate of investments is a testimony to the state’s growing prowess as a data centre hub,” Neeraj Mittal, MD & CEO, Guidance TN, said.

Since industrial parks and land in and around Chennai is available, undersea cables that connect the city to south east Asian countries and TN’s status as a power surplus state are some of the reasons for companies to choose the city over others.

A data centre policy of Tamil Nadu is under preparation as there is a large number of inquiries from global companies, who are keen to either have their main data centre here or have their data back-up base (disaster recovery centre) in Chennai.

The state government’s support on policies that are conducive for data centre operators will bring more investments and customers into the state.

Yotta Infrastructure

Yotta Infrastructure, owned by Hiranandani Group, has recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Tamil Nadu to establish a data center park in the city of Chennai.

The company will invest around ₹3,000-4,000 Crore (US$450m-$600m) over the next decade into the park.

Chennai has emerged as a fovourite data centre investment location for companies like ST Telemedia, Adani, HDCL Data Centre, Princeton Digital and Mantra Catre. Also, HDCI Data Centre Holdings and ST Tele Media will invest Rs 2,800 crore and Rs 1,500 crore respectively.

According to Arvian Research Chennai is receiving large number of inquiries from global companies, who are keen to either have their main data centre here or have their data back-up base primarily for disaster recovery centre in Chennai.

Human resources

“Besides its pro-industry face and surplus power along with undersea cables that connect the city to south-east Asian give a clear edge for Chennai to emerge as the data centre hub of India. Also, Tamil Nadu is known for its rich human resources,” said Arvian Research analyst.

Large data centre facilities are required to store, compute and analyse data. Besides electricity, data centre requires large tack of land for setting up their hardware.

State-run Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu Limited recently inaugurated its second data centre with a total estimated cost of Rs 74.69 crore.

The TNSDC facilitates the State to provide efficient delivery of Government to Government (G2G), Government to Citizen (G2C) and Government to Business (G2B) services and most government departments have hosted their applications and servers in the centre.

This article first appeared in the NFA Post and is republished with permission

Amy Wu

Amy is a Taiwanese graduate student based in Phoenix, Arizona, currently home in Hsinchu to ride out the COVID-19 pandemic. She has a passion for Hakka culture, and the rights of minorities around the world. She will cover SE Asian news and topics.