Powering the chips: Why Adani, Reliance are building a $125 bn moat around AI
Mumbai: Adani Group’s $100 billion investment commitment for an artificial intelligence (AI)-ready data center and power ecosystem, along with investment commitments from other Indian conglomerates such as Reliance Industries, Tata Group and Larsen & Toubro, takes a page from the US’s $500 billion Project Stargate playbook.
The ecosystem not only provides cost advantages to Indian conglomerates but also better control over the operationalization of their multi-gigawatt facilities. Experts said that data centers.
So far, investment commitments in the AI ecosystem by leading Indian companies, including Reliance Industries, Tata Group and Tata Group, have reached $125 billion. According to Larsen and Toubro mint Calculations based on public announcements and analyst estimates.
This rivals the $500 billion Project Stargate in the US, where leading private sector companies have pledged to invest in the infrastructure needed to power the next generation of artificial intelligence and secure the country’s lead against rivals such as China.
For example, Adani Group’s investment plan includes not only establishing data centers to meet the demand for artificial intelligence, but also the energy production ecosystem to power them. Gautam Adani, chairman of Adani Group, said in a press release on Tuesday.
According to a company executive who spoke on condition of anonymity, the Ahmedabad-based conglomerate will spend this $100 billion on group companies by 2035; this includes nearly $7 billion already spent.
This executive said the data centers will be built in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, renewable energy infrastructure will be spread across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
“The world is entering an Intelligence Revolution that is deeper than any previous Industrial Revolution,” Adani said in the press release. “Countries that master the symmetry between energy and computing will shape the next decade.”
Lines of calculation
Adani Group did not disclose the source of financing for this investment, which is arguably one of the biggest commitments the group has made to date.
Reliance Industries is planning a similar end-to-end play by building AI-ready, renewable energy-powered data centers. The Mumbai-based conglomerate has yet to outline a consolidated investment guide for this ecosystem, but analysts at Morgan Stanley estimated in an Oct. 31, 2025 note that it could spend up to $15 billion per 1 GW of data center capacity.
Tata Group also has investments in power generation (at Tata Power Ltd) and has planned a $6.5 billion investment in AI-ready data centers at Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. However, the Mumbai-based conglomerate has not announced fixed power capacity at Tata Power for TCS’s data centres, contrary to the roadmap given by Adani and Reliance. Separately, Tata Electronics is investing $11 billion in the construction of a semiconductor factory in Gujarat and $3 billion in an outsourced semiconductor assembly and testing (OSAT) facility in Assam.
Larsen & Toubro Ltd (L&T), meanwhile, plans to build a moat by owning the land, physical infrastructure and servers, and having in-house construction capacity. The company is also considering developing its own renewable energy plants to power these data centers, but no final decision has been made yet. Mint It was reported on January 21.
“This kind of commitment isn’t a single bet on AI enthusiasm. It’s a layered infrastructure play. Power, time and control are at the heart of it,” said Sanchit Gogia, CEO and principal analyst at Greyhound Research, a technology research and consulting firm.
Key Takeaways
- Indian conglomerates have allocated a total of $125 billion to artificial intelligence infrastructure, positioning India as the primary rival against the technology dominance of the US and China.
- This model bypasses grid bottlenecks and reduces operating costs by connecting renewable energy generation directly to data centers.
- These are ‘tiered’ bets; Assets remain valuable even as specific demand for AI computing fluctuates.
- The game extends beyond data centers to the silicon layer; Tata’s $14 billion investment in semiconductor factories and assembly proves this.
- These firms aim to give India pricing power in the next decade of the global intelligence revolution by controlling the ‘symmetry between energy and computing’.
Creating a custom field
Gogia explained that renewable and thermal energy specific to data centers changes the risk equation. If computing demand accelerates, this capacity will fuel hyperscale campuses. If usage slows, the same power can be sold to broader pools of demand, reducing dependence on a single narrative.
These large investments also give these conglomerates greater control over the operationalization of data centers. Currently, many Western markets face a bottleneck in providing energy connections to data centers due to delayed grid development.
“Data halls can be built faster than power can be provided. If you can align generation, transmission coordination, storage procurement and campus construction in a single sequence, you shorten the window of uncertainty. This means pricing power and stronger tenant negotiations,” Gogia said. In such a situation where capacity is limited, the energy costs of data centers are also increasing rapidly. He added that having production capacity could protect these holdings from such cost increases.
Finally, he said that scale brings additional advantages. Repeatedly enabling data centers reduces friction with each subsequent iteration as understanding with vendors improves, major purchases reduce costs, and deployment becomes more predictable.
“The belief behind a number like 100 billion comes not from assuming that every AI application will be successful, but from building a platform where power, infrastructure and ecosystem positioning create layered monetization paths,” Gogia said.
