Data prices in India are amongst the lowest in the world, and now the country seems to be storing it at a fast pace as well.
India now has the highest datacenter capacity in the Asia-Pacific region excluding China. India’s datacenter capacity is currently 950 MW, helping it overtake nations including Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Korea. China is far ahead of the rest of the pack, with a 3,800 MW datacenter capacity.
India’s 950 MW capacity is followed by Japan (892 MW), Australia (773 MW), Singapore (718 MW), Hong Kong (613 MW) and South Korea (531 MW). India is likely to extend its lead given how it’s likely to record the highest capacity addition of around 850 MW during the 2024-2026 period, higher than other major APAC countries.
Countries around the world are increasingly focusing on building their datacenter capacities to meet the growing demands of the digital age Datacenters play a vital role in supporting the digital infrastructure necessary for economic growth and innovation — datacenters are essential for storing, processing, and managing vast amounts of data generated daily. Also, having indigenous datacenter capacities is key to improving cybersecurity measures and ensuring data privacy and protection.
India, for its part, has generated tremendous amounts of data over the last decade, and it needs to be stored and processed in datacenters. Some of this data is stored on servers owned by multinational companies — WhatsApp chats and Google photos, for instance, are stored in datacenters abroad — the Indian government has been pushing for data localization, which means that this data could soon need to be stored on Indian shores. The government has also classifed datacenters as ‘infrastructure’ as of late 2022, which could benefit companies which set up datacenters in the country. While these tailwinds at play, India’s datacenter industry could grow even faster in the coming years.