Meta is expanding its AI infrastructure footprint in India through a new partnership with Reliance Industries, marking the company’s first AI-enabled data center deployment in the country. The agreement will see Reliance build a 168-megawatt facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat, which Meta will lease as part of its global AI infrastructure expansion strategy.
The project represents a significant step in Meta’s effort to place AI infrastructure closer to one of its largest user markets. India remains one of Meta’s fastest-growing digital ecosystems, supported by a large internet user base, expanding cloud adoption, and rising demand for AI-powered services.
Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said: “We’re proud to be working with Reliance to build our first AI-enabled data center in India. This world-class facility in Jamnagar will help us scale our AI infrastructure globally while deepening our long-term investment in India’s economy.”
Jamnagar Emerges as a Strategic AI Infrastructure Hub
The facility will be located within Reliance’s growing data center campus in Jamnagar, a site the company is positioning as a major destination for AI infrastructure development. The first phase will provide 168 MW of capacity, with options for future expansion as demand grows. Reliance will construct and operate the facility while Meta leases the capacity for its AI and digital services requirements.
According to the companies, the facility will run on renewable energy and use desalinated seawater for cooling. Meta will cover the full cost of the energy and water required to support operations. The approach aligns with increasing industry efforts to secure sustainable power sources for energy-intensive AI workloads. The project also complements Meta’s broader connectivity investments in the region, including Project Waterworth, the subsea cable initiative designed to improve global network capacity and reduce latency for digital services.
Data Center Capacity Supports AI Growth
AI infrastructure requirements have increased significantly as technology companies expand model training, inference, and agentic AI deployments. Rather than building and operating every facility directly, several hyperscalers have increasingly adopted leasing arrangements with infrastructure partners to accelerate deployment timelines.
For Reliance, the agreement strengthens its ambition to become a major provider of hyperscale AI infrastructure in India. Industry observers view Jamnagar as one of the country’s most significant emerging AI infrastructure locations due to its access to power resources, connectivity, and large-scale development capacity.
Long-Term Meta and Reliance Partnership Deepens
The latest agreement builds on a relationship that has expanded steadily over the last several years. In 2020, Meta invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms, strengthening collaboration across connectivity, digital commerce, and online services. More recently, the companies established initiatives focused on bringing Meta’s AI technologies and open-source models to enterprises and developers in India.
Reliance Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh D. Ambani said: “This partnership with Meta marks a transformative moment for India’s digital infrastructure. Building India’s first built-to-suit AI data centre for a global technology leader of Meta’s scale demonstrates India’s readiness to be at the forefront of the global AI revolution. At Reliance, we are committed to building world-class digital infrastructure that will power the next generation of AI innovation not just for India, but for the world.”
Meta Backs Nearly 1 Gigawatt of Renewable Energy
Alongside the data center announcement, Meta revealed new renewable energy agreements totaling nearly 1 gigawatt of capacity across India. The company is expanding its clean energy partnerships with CleanMax and Fourth Partner Energy to support future infrastructure growth. The CleanMax agreement covers 837 MW of new solar and wind projects across Rajasthan and Karnataka, bringing Meta’s total announced capacity with the company to more than 900 MW. A separate agreement with Fourth Partner Energy adds 88 MW of solar and wind capacity across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.
These projects will support Meta’s goal of matching its operations with 100% clean and renewable energy while helping address value-chain emissions associated with growing AI infrastructure deployments.
Market Implications
The Meta-Reliance agreement highlights India’s growing role in the global AI infrastructure landscape. As AI workloads continue to expand, international technology companies are increasingly seeking regional infrastructure investments that combine compute capacity, renewable energy access, and network connectivity. For Meta, the Jamnagar project adds dedicated AI infrastructure in one of its most important markets. For Reliance, the agreement reinforces its strategy of building large-scale AI and cloud infrastructure capable of serving both domestic and global technology companies.
With AI investment accelerating worldwide, the partnership signals that India is becoming a more significant destination for hyperscale infrastructure deployment, renewable energy-backed data centers, and next-generation AI capacity.
