The wealthiest man in Asia is placing all of his money on artificial intelligence and plans to construct a data center in his native nation
The richest man in Asia, billionaire Mukesh Ambani, has revealed a bold project that will revolutionize artificial intelligence worldwide. He intends to construct the biggest AI data center in the world through his conglomerate Reliance Industries, which owns a number of businesses in India related to energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, and telecommunications.
The data center being developed in the Indian city of Jamnagar in the state of Gujarat is expected to dwarf the largest facilities in the sector, aiming for a total capacity of 3 gigawatts. Currently, the largest on Earth is Microsoft’s data center in Virginia, USA, at “only” 600 megawatts, to give you an idea. The scale of this project therefore reflects India’s determination to lead the global race to develop artificial intelligence.
Now what would be the price tag for such a project? It’s estimated to be somewhere between $20 billion and $30 billion, a huge financial challenge even for Reliance Industries. To fund the initiative, the Indian tycoon could tap into more than $25 billion he has raised from investors including Meta, Google and Silver Lake, though they may also have to resort to government support and other innovative financing strategies.
With this giant data center, its goal is to dominate the AI market by creating the world's cheapest AI, according to this statement from Reliance Industries, providing computing power to companies that need to run AI models, but without having to invest in their own infrastructure.
On the other hand, the announcement of this project comes at a time of intense global competition in the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure. Industry giants OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle recently announced plans to jointly invest $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States through a new project called Project Stargate. In addition, Mark Zuckerberg’s company, Meta, announced that it will invest $65 billion in a data center with a capacity of more than 2 gigawatts.
Ultimately, Asia’s richest man’s initiative not only has the potential to redefine the global AI landscape but could also propel India into becoming a hub for AI development. If successful, the project could mark a turning point in the distribution of technological power, demonstrating that AI innovation is not limited to traditional superpowers.