On Tuesday, Amazon Web Service (AWS) announced the launch of the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) Region. AWS will build its second data cluster in Hyderabad by 2030, with an investment of $4.4 billion (about ₹36,300 crores). An additional data center will support over 48,000 full-time jobs annually. In 2016, AWS opened a similar facility in Mumbai, its first region in the country. Globally, it runs such facilities in 30 geographies in the world.
With the rise of data consumption and Clould adoption, the need for data centres in India has also shot up exponentially. According to the rating agency Crisil, by 2025, data centre capacity to double to reach 1,700-1,800 MW from the current capacity of 870 MW. AWS leads the cloud market in India and has amassed a number of major clients in the country including Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Niti Aayog, PhysicsWallah and Acko. Meanwhile, Google also has two cloud regions in India whereas Microsoft maintains three.
In a statement, AWS announced, “The launch of its second AWS infrastructure region in India – the AWS Asia Pacific (Hyderabad) region. Starting today, developers, start-ups, entrepreneurs, and enterprises, as well as government, education, and nonprofit organisations, will have greater choice for running their applications and serving end users from data centres located in India. Customers will have access to advanced AWS technologies to drive innovation, including data analytics, security, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI),” it said.
Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, in a statement said, “As a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s $1 Trillion Digital Economy vision, the ‘India cloud’ is set for big expansion and innovation. Data centres are an important element of the digital ecosystem. The investments by AWS in expanding their data centres in India is a welcome development and would certainly help catalyze India’s digital economy.”
The $4.4 billion investment by Amazon Web Service includes capital expenditures on the construction of data centres, operational expenses related to ongoing utilities and facility costs, and purchases of goods and services from regional businesses.
