Connect | India // Major Panel: From traditional builds to AI Infrastructure - Can India deliver?

As India’s data centre pipeline expands rapidly, AI-driven demand is changing the way facilities are planned, designed and delivered. Higher rack densities, liquid cooling integration and power-led site strategies are pushing developers to think beyond traditional building models and consider the broader infrastructure conditions required to support AI workloads. The challenge is no longer simply building faster. It is whether India can deliver AI-ready infrastructure at scale while navigating energy availability, water constraints, site suitability, approval timelines, supply chain pressure and community expectations. These factors are increasingly shaping design decisions, delivery certainty and long-term operational resilience. This discussion will explore how India’s data centre ecosystem must adapt by addressing:

• How high-density AI requirements are reshaping decisions across site selection, design and infrastructure delivery
• Aligning design decisions and infrastructure investments with energy, water and site realities in constrained markets
• Managing procurement, permitting and stakeholder requirements within compressed delivery timelines
• Whether delivery, commissioning and operational readiness models are keeping pace with AI-driven infrastructure complexity
• Building resilience and flexibility into facilities that must adapt to evolving technologies, density requirements and long-term growth plans
• How social license, community expectations and resource constraints are becoming practical considerations in project design, delivery and expansion