Amazon Web lines up $4.4-bn investments

Data Centres Hog Limelight

- AWS already has a similar facility in Mumbai

- AWS runs such facilities in 30 geographies globally

- Need for data centres rising due to data consumption and cloud adoption

- Crisil forecasts data centre capacity to double to 1,700-1,800MW by 2025 from the current 870 MW

- Adani Group setting up data centres at multiple locations

- Oracle in 2019 announced Gen 2 cloud regions in Mumbai and Hyd

- RIL tied up with Microsoft to provide cloud services to SMEs

Hyderabad: Amazon Web Services Inc (AWS) has firmed up its a planned investment of more than $4.4 billion (approximately Rs36,300 crores) in India by 2030. The AWS' $4.4-bn investment in India through the new Asia-Pacific (Hyderabad) Region, includes capital expenditures on the construction of data centers, operational expenses related to ongoing utilities and facility costs, and purchases of goods and services from regional businesses.

The investment is also estimated to support an average of more than 48,000 full-time jobs annually at external businesses during this time. These jobs will be part of the AWS supply chain in India, including construction, facility maintenance, engineering, telecommunications, and jobs within the country's broader economy.

AWS on Tuesday announced the launch of its second AWS infrastructure Region in India -the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region.

A statement from the tech major said the new AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region is estimated to support an average of more than 48,000 full-time jobs annually through it said.

Customers will have access to advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation including data analytics, security, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI), it said.

"The launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region supports India's digital transformation and is part of our long-term investment in the country since opening our first office in 2011. Customers and partners in India will now have additional regional infrastructure to deploy applications with greater resilience, availability, and even lower latency," Prasad Kalyanaraman, Vice President of Infrastructure Services at Amazon Data Services Inc said.

"We are proud to invest in the future of the Indian technology community and workforce, and we are committed to helping organizations across industries increase agility and drive innovation," he added.

"As a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's $1 trillion Digital Economy vision, the 'India cloud' is set for big expansion and innovation. Data centres are an important element of the digital ecosystem. The investments by AWS in expanding their data centres in India is a welcome development and would certainly help catalyze India's digital economy," said Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology.

"We welcome AWS' commitment to invest approximately Rs 36,300 crore in the AWS Region in Hyderabad, which strengthens Telangana's position as a progressive data center hub in India," KT Rama Rao, Minister for IT and Industries Telangana, said.

The construction and operation of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region is also estimated to add approximately $7.6 billion (approximately Rs63,600 crore) to India's gross domestic product by 2030, AWS added.

AWS already has a similar facility in Mumbai, which opened in 2016. It runs such facilities in 30 geographies in the world. The need for data centres in India has shot up exponentially with the rise in data consumption and cloud adoption. Rating agency Crisil estimates that data centre capacity to double to reach 1,700-1,800 MW by 2025 from the current capacity of 870 MW. This has prompted conglomerates such as Adani Group to announce big investments in setting up data centres at multiple locations.

While Oracle, in 2019, announced Gen 2 cloud regions in Mumbai and Hyderabad, and Reliance Industries has tied up with Microsoft to provide cloud services to small and medium enterprises in the country. Hiranandani Group launched Yotta Infrastructure to build data centres in Mumbai and Chennai.