On Thursday, May 21, we are coming to Chennai with the fifth edition of the Chennai Cloud & Datacenter Convention (Chennai CDC 2026), which will take place at the ITC Grand Chola. This year too, we have a stellar line up of speakers and panelists who will share their perspectives and experiences during a series of presentations, and panel discussions throughout the day. Simultaneously, we will also be hosting the second edition of Chennai Interconnect World, a technology conference focused on India’s connectivity ecosystem.
In attendance will be industry veterans, business leaders, technology experts, C-level executives, decision makers, and key buyers, architects, engineers and consultants (AECs), data center owners and operators, representatives of government agencies, telecom majors, submarine networks and services.
India shines, Chennai blooms
According to a submission by Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology, before Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament) earlier this year, India’s data center capacity reached almost 1,500 MW or 1.5 GW in 2025. This is a significant jump from a mere 375 MW in 2020.
In a 2025 report titled The digital backbone: Data center growth prospects in India, Colliers said that India’s data center market could see capacity across the top seven cities exceed 4,500 MW or 4.5 GW by 2030.
While Mumbai remains India’s largest data center market, cornering nearly half of the country’s capacity, Chennai has emerged as the second largest market and is attracting attention from both, global and domestic digital infrastructure players.
According to Mordor Intelligence, Chennai’s data center market is expected to grow from 0.55 GW in 2025, to 0.67 GW in 2026. Moreover, it is forecast to reach 2.11 GW by 2032, growing at a Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21.19 percent over 2026-2032.
As per a 2025 JLL study titled India Data Center Market Dynamics, Chennai’s data center market has seen significant supply growth in anticipation of pre-commitments from hyperscale Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). Major players have adopted land banking strategy for building hyperscale data centers. Moreover, there’s a growing trend of GPU adoption for AI workloads in the Chennai market.
Today Chennai is home to data centers by AdaniConnex, CapitaLand, Colt DCS, CtrlS Datacenters, Digital Connexion, Equinix, NTT, Nxtra by Airtel, Sify, STT GDC India, Techno Digital, and many others such as Yotta have projects in the pipeline. Ambattur and Siruseri have emerged as locations of choice for data centers in Chennai.
Industry leaders upbeat about Chennai
“India Digital Infrastructure boom is in early innings with a long and massive runway ahead. In fact, it is at the center of the global digital growth story, and Chennai stands out as a strategic gateway with its strong subsea cable connectivity, robust industrial ecosystem, and growing enterprise and hyperscaler demand. It is uniquely positioned to become South Asia’s digital infrastructure hub,” says Bimal Khandelwal, CEO, ST Telemedia Global Data Centers, India.
Readers would recall that in February this year, the company announced the launch of its fourth data center in Chennai. STT Chennai 7 marks the expansion of the company’s second campus in the city at the upcoming digital infrastructure hub of Siruseri. However, Khandelwal advocates for certain urgent reforms. “Stronger policy support for power access, transmission upgrades, and faster renewable energy integration would be the single biggest enabler,” he says. “Reliable, sustainable power is the foundation of digital infrastructure growth.”
“What excites me most about the Indian market, particularly Chennai, is its strategic emergence as a global connectivity hub. The city’s strength lies in its growing network of subsea landing cables, which are critical to enabling high-capacity, low-latency connections to global markets,” says Vimal Kaw, MD – India, and Global Head of Sales Enablement, NTT Global Data Centers & Cloud Infrastructure India Pvt. Ltd. “This, combined with strong enterprise demand and digital adoption, positions Chennai as a key gateway for international data flows into India. The continued growth of landing cable infrastructure is not just enhancing connectivity, it is fundamentally accelerating the evolution of Chennai as a leading data center destination.” The company has two facilities – Chennai 1 and Chennai 2, in the city.
“One of the most critical reforms required to accelerate the growth of the data center sector in India is the implementation of a true single-window approval system,” says Kaw, shedding light on the reforms required to help the industry thrive in the region. “Today, the approval process involves multiple stakeholders and timelines, which can slow down project execution. A streamlined, transparent, and time-bound single-window framework would significantly improve ease of doing business, reduce operational bottlenecks, and attract greater domestic and global investment into the sector.”
CapitaLand is another major global player with a data center in Chennai and a growing presence across India. But is it still betting big on Chennai? “Yes, and with even greater conviction today than when we first acquired the Ambattur site, backed by the detailed due diligence we did on the market at the time,” reiterates Surajit Chatterjee, Managing Director & Head, Data Centre, India, CapitaLand Investment. “Chennai brings together three structural advantages that few Indian markets offer at scale: a dense cluster of submarine cable landings that keeps growing, a mature state policy framework under Tamil Nadu’s Data Centre Policy, and an operating ecosystem built around hyperscale and AI-ready workloads.” He further says, “Chennai market’s installed capacity is set to roughly double over the next 24 months, and with the city positioned as one of India’s principal subsea gateways, the long-term case only strengthens.”
Says Syed Mohammad Beary, Founder & CMD, Bearys Group, “India is at the threshold of becoming one of the world’s most important digital economies and what excites me most is the speed at which digital adoption is transforming every sector of society,” adding, “Chennai, in particular, has emerged as a highly strategic destination for cloud and data center investments due to its strong connectivity ecosystem, skilled talent pool, reliable infrastructure and access to renewable energy potential. The city is uniquely positioned to become a major digital gateway for South Asia and global hyperscalers. I believe Chennai will play a defining role in India’s digital infrastructure growth story over the coming decade.”
Bearys Group is partnering with Blackstone to develop a hyperscale data center campus in Chennai. The campus that will be built at an investment of a whopping Rs 10,000 crores, will initially feature an IT load capacity of 216 MW. Beary also advocates for reforms aimed at ease of enabling data center development. “One of the most important reforms required is a faster and more streamlined single-window approval mechanism for data center projects. Time-bound clearances related to power, environmental approvals, connectivity and infrastructure development would significantly accelerate investments in this sector. In addition, long-term policy support for renewable energy integration and data localization infrastructure will further strengthen India’s position as a global data center hub.”
Meet our Advisory Board
To guide us on our mission to bring you the most valuable experience, we have formed an Advisory Board for our industry events and conventions in India. Our members include the who’s who of the industry, and their feedback has helped us curate Chennai CDC and Interconnect World in a manner that brings to you the most sought-after speakers, the most thought-provoking discussions, and a truly global networking experience.
“This year we have constituted an advisory board comprising some of the best known business leaders from India’s digital infrastructure and connectivity ecosystem. Their guidance is helping us curate more meaningful experiences for all our participants,” says Naveen Lawrence, Director, Sales and Marketing, South Asia and Middle East, w.media.
Our Advisory Board members are bringing global experience, a rich perspective, and their own unique touch to our events in South Asia. They also have their own goals with respect to the events planned across the region.
“First, I would like to help shift the conversation from capacity build-out to operational maturity. That means how we power and cool at hyperscale densities, how we meet the sustainability and water stewardship mandates that hyperscalers and regulators are now pushing in parallel, and how India moves from being a low-cost destination to a global benchmark for AI-ready infrastructure design. Liquid cooling, renewable PPAs and grid co-investment are no longer optional, and CDC is the right forum to anchor that standard,” says Surajit Chatterjee. “Second, I want the platform to stay genuinely useful to the CIOs, CTOs and infrastructure heads on the buy-side. Less vendor pitch, more candid peer-to-peer exchange. India’s data center story deserves a forum that is technically credible, commercially honest and globally relevant. CDC is well positioned to be exactly that, and I am keen to lend whatever weight I can to keeping it there.”
Syed Mohammad Beary says, “As an Advisory Board Member, I look forward to contributing towards building meaningful industry collaborations among technology leaders, infrastructure developers, policymakers, investors and especially hyperscalers and enterprises.” He further says, “My expectation from Chennai CDC is that it should become a strong platform for knowledge exchange, innovation and strategic partnerships that can shape the future of India’s digital infrastructure ecosystem. I also hope the event inspires actionable discussions around sustainability, scalability, and inclusive digital growth for the region.”
Meanwhile, Bimal Khandelwal says, “The expectation is simple – it is to foster meaningful collaboration between industry, government, and academia to position Chennai as a leading global data center destination. More importantly, this collaboration should drive time-bound policy enablement and actionable outcomes that accelerate growth, investment, and sustainable digital infrastructure development.”
“As an Advisory Board Member, my goal is to help bring greater cohesion and direction to the data center ecosystem in India. Today, while we have strong communities across sectors such as power and infrastructure, India still lacks a cohesive and cognizant data center community,” says Vimal Kaw. “I would like to contribute towards building a unified forum where data center stakeholders—across operators, enterprises, policymakers, and partners—can come together to share insights, address common challenges, and shape the future of the industry collectively.” He further says, “From Chennai CDC, I expect it to play a pivotal role in fostering this collaboration—creating a structured platform for dialogue, knowledge exchange, and advocacy that can help position Chennai, and India at large, as a globally competitive data center hub.”
Here’s what’s in store for you!
The day long Cloud & Datacenter Convention will include several technology presentations, as well as power-packed panel discussions, where the best and brightest minds in the industry will share their ideas on a variety of pertinent subjects such as:
- Impact of AI, power, and geopolitics on India’s data center landscape
- Need for transitioning from Air Cooling to Liquid Cooling for AI-Ready data centers
- Sovereign cloud and Edge infrastructure development
- Navigating regulatory hurdles and power constraints
… and much more!
At Interconnect World there will be insightful presentations and knowledge-sharing sessions by industry leaders on a wide variety of subjects such as subsea cable connectivity, fiber deployment, agentic AI and autonomous networks, Tamil Nadu’s growing connectivity infrastructure, and new innovations.
The Convention will also include a modest technology expo that will showcase the latest innovations and futuristic technologies and advancements in the cloud and data center industry. Don’t forget to join us at CenterStage Chennai, where W.Media’s Editor-in-Chief Deborah Grey will bring together industry experts for a more intimate chat on what lies at the heart of their quest for excellence in digital transformation.
REGISTER NOW!
So, what are you waiting for? Come, join us at ITC Chola on May 21, 2025, for the Chennai Cloud & Datacenter Convention. If you haven’t booked your passes yet, hurry! Click the image below to register:
For sponsorship, exhibition and further involvement opportunities, get in touch at [email protected]