Meta partners with Reliance to build AI data center

Per Meta's corporate blog post, Meta Platforms and Reliance Industries announced an expanded strategic partnership to develop an AI-enabled data center in Jamnagar, Gujarat. The companies said Reliance will build a facility whose first phase delivers 168 MW of capacity, which Meta will lease, with options to scale. The blog post states the site will be powered by renewable energy and cooled using desalinated seawater, and that Meta will cover the full cost of the energy and water supporting the facility. Meta's post includes direct quotes from both sides. Mark Zuckerberg: "We're proud to be working with Reliance to build our first AI-enabled data center in India. This world-class facility in Jamnagar will help us scale our AI infrastructure globally while deepening our long-term investment in India's economy." Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani: "This partnership with Meta marks a transformative moment for India's digital infrastructure. Building India's first built-to-suit AI data centre for a global technology leader of Meta's scale demonstrates India's readiness to be at the forefront of the global AI revolution."

Alongside the data center agreement, Meta announced contracts for nearly 1 GW of new clean energy in India through two providers: CleanMax (837 MW of solar and wind projects in Rajasthan and Karnataka, bringing the CleanMax cumulative total to over 900 MW) and Fourth Partner Energy (88 MW of solar and wind across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh). Per the blog post, these commitments, combined with Reliance's renewable energy support for Jamnagar, are intended to match Meta's India operations with 100% clean energy.

According to the announcement, Jamnagar is part of a larger Reliance campus described as one of the largest data center campuses globally, with access to the substantial energy resources needed for advanced AI infrastructure. Reliance will act as a single-window solutions provider, handling design, construction, utility management, renewable power supply, network connectivity, and fully managed operational services. Meta's blog post also references connectivity via Project Waterworth, described as the world's longest subsea cable system, to bring industry-leading connectivity to the region. Reuters reporting notes that Meta and Reliance previously formed a joint venture in August 2025 to build AI platforms and enterprise tools using Meta's Llama family of models, with an initial commitment of 8.55 billion rupees (approximately $100 million), with Reliance holding a 70% stake and Meta 30%. The Meta post also references prior infrastructure investments in India, including the $5.7 billion 2020 investment in Jio Platforms.

Large-capacity, leased data center footprints in emerging markets typically aim to reduce latency for local users and to meet data residency or regulatory needs while concentrating capital expenditure with local partners. Facilities at the 100+ MW scale signal a focus on supporting both large-scale model training and dense inference clusters, which have distinct power, cooling, and networking requirements compared with traditional cloud deployments.

Reuters cites industry research from IMARC Group projecting India's data center market to nearly double to $13.11 billion by 2034, driven by digital transformation, cloud adoption, and rising AI workloads. For practitioners, locally provisioned capacity at this scale changes the practical options for model placement, data governance, and networking architecture in the region.

Monitor capacity utilization and whether the Jamnagar campus is used primarily for training, inference, or a hybrid workload mix; power usage effectiveness (PUE) and verified renewable sourcing over time; the degree to which the facility integrates with Project Waterworth and Meta's global network assets; and whether Llama model hosting or enterprise AI services from the prior JV will run on this site.