168 megawatts of AI compute capacity is heading to Jamnagar, Gujarat — Meta’s first data center in India, built in partnership with Reliance Industries. That’s enough to train and serve models at scale, and Meta is betting the entire facility on renewable energy.
Why Jamnagar Signals a Shift in Meta’s AI Stack
Meta has been running inference and training on leased capacity in India for years. Owning the iron changes the equation. Jamnagar sits near Reliance’s massive refinery complex, which already hosts one of the world’s largest captive solar farms. Co-locating with a partner who can deliver 24/7 renewable power at industrial prices means Meta sidesteps the grid reliability headaches that plague most Indian data center builds.
The 168 MW figure isn’t small. For reference, Meta’s massive data center in Los Lunas, New Mexico runs at about 150 MW. This facility will likely house tens of thousands of GPUs dedicated to training Llama-class models or powering Meta’s growing AI-driven ad and recommendation systems for the Indian market.
900 MW of Renewables — Not Just a Carbon Offset Play
Separately, Meta expanded its collaboration with Clean Max to develop over 900 MW of new solar and wind projects across India. That isn’t a side note; it’s the entire power procurement strategy for a country where coal still supplies 70% of grid electricity. By signing these PPAs now, Meta locks in cost-predictable green power before Indian data center demand heats up further.
Reliance brings land, power, and construction muscle. Clean Max brings project execution and renewable certificates. Meta brings the cash and the AI workload. The result is a vertically integrated energy-compute package with no passive grid reliance.
What This Unlocks Next
Expect Meta to replicate this model in other states — Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are obvious candidates given their existing fiber and subsea cable landings. The Jamnagar site becomes a template for hyperscalers who want to bypass India’s notoriously slow utility connections. If Meta can get this 168 MW facility live within 18 months, it will pressure AWS and Google to accelerate their own owned-and-operated builds in India.
Source: Meta partners with Reliance to set up its first data centre in India
Domain: economictimes.indiatimes.com
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