Equinix plans to triple Indian data centre capacity as AI drives demand

In an interview, Manoj Paul, managing director of Equinix India, said that the rapid uptake of artificial intelligence is reshaping where companies locate their infrastructure, opening opportunities in non-traditional locations such as Visakhapatnam and Jamnagar. He emphasized that AI-driven workloads, whether for inference or training, can operate away from dense urban areas as long as they have reliable power, adequate land and access to trained personnel.

Equinix, which already runs data centres in Mumbai and Chennai, currently holds roughly 20 MW of capacity in India and intends to boost this to 70 MW over the next two to three years. Paul observed that power stability has risen to levels comparable with China and Singapore, but land costs in cities like Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai remain high, prompting vertical construction. He called for more education on the resource footprint of data centres versus other digital services, stressing that many enterprises rely on providers like Equinix to reduce latency and improve efficiency.