Meta may locate its first Indian data center at Reliance Industries’ campus in Chennai.
Reliance is part of a data center joint venture with Digital Realty and Brookfield, which recently launched its first facility in Chennai.
Local press, including the Economic Times, report the social media firm has inked a deal with Reliance – with an agreement struck during pre-wedding celebrations of Ambani Anant at Jamnagar in early March.
Both companies declined to comment to ET.
Reports the company was interested in opening a facility in India surfaced last month. Currently, data from Indian users of Meta products is serviced at its data center in Singapore.
Local press reported the social network firm was exploring a possible 10-20MW deployment in India to meet demand for its Reels video product. Further details weren’t shared.
TikTok, which Reels is competing with elsewhere, is banned in India. The country blacklisted TikTok and 100-plus other Chinese apps in June 2020, citing national security concerns.
Reels – Meta’s short-form video product available through Facebook and Instagram – launched in 2020 on Instagram and 2021 on Facebook.
Reliance joined Digital Realty and Brookfield’s Indian data center joint venture in June 2023. The JV is now known as Digital Connexion. After breaking ground on a 100 MW campus in Chennai last year, the first 20MW greenfield data center (MAA10) was launched earlier this year.
Ambani Anant, a non-executive director at Reliance, is the son of Mukesh Ambani, Reliance's managing director and India’s richest man. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attended an Ambani family pre-wedding event in early March.
Meta invested $5.7 Billion in Jio Platforms – part of the Reliance group – back in 2020, equating to a just under 10 percent stake.
