The Indian telecom giant Bharti Airtel just secured $1 billion in funding for its subsidiary engaged in data center business.
The development comes as the company’s share price sees losses. Airtel closed at ₹1,789.20 on Monday before the stock market holiday for Mahavir Jayanti. The stock is down by 1.29% over the past five trading days and 4.48% over the past month.
Investment from Private Equity Firms
In a statement, the second largest mobile network operator in the world said that the private equity firms Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle and Anchorage Capital will invest in Nxtra Data Limited, the first data center company in India to deploy AI at scale for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency and automated operations.
Airtel said that subject to regulatory approval, the agreement is for Alpha Wave Global to invest $435 million, Carlyle $240 million and Anchorage Capital $35 million. The company said it will infuse the rest of the investment.
Strategic Partnerships
The New Delhi-headquartered Nxtra operates 14 large core data centers, over 120 edge facilities and a state-of-the art facility in Pune. It is also working on additional AI-ready campuses in Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata.
The company recently teamed up with the search engine giant Google to build a gigawatt-scale AI data center campus with a $15-billion investment.
“Strategic partnerships with global investors and technology leaders are central to our growth roadmap, enabling us to accelerate expansion, harness world-class expertise, and deliver next-generation digital infrastructure solutions at scale,” said Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal.
The funding raised is aimed at bolstering the firm’s AI data center expansion and supporting its next phase of growth.
“At Nxtra, we have built one of India’s most advanced and sustainable data center networks, designed to meet the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government. With ~300 MW capacity today, we aim to scale to 1 GW in the next few years, targeting ~25% market share,” Vittal said.
Source: https://coinpaper.com/15867/bharti-airtel-secures-1-billion-for-ai-data-center-biz-amid-stock-losses
