Chennai emerging as data-centre hub as TN signs MoUs with Singapore-based firms

CHENNAI: Chennai seems to be emerging as a data-centre hub, as the Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday signed memoranda of understandings (MoUs) with Singapore-based CapitaLand and WebWerks for Rs 1,900 crore, to set up two data centres in Ambattur. The MoUs were signed at investment conclave in the presence of Chief Minister MK Stalin.

The development comes as Guidance has signed MOUs with nine companies to set up data centres in Tamil Nadu with a proposed investment of Rs 16,927 crore and employment potential of over 9,000 jobs over two years. National and international companies, including Yotta, Princeton Digital, ST Telemedia, Netmagic, and Adaniare, are in the process of setting up data centres in Chennai.

Official sources said Ambattur is favourable for data centre companies owing to its geographical conditions and existing data centre ecosystem. Siruseri is the next ideal destination due to the presence of several IT companies, which offers a great market opportunity, the sources added. It is learnt that Guidance is also in discussions with the world’s largest data centre companies and leading technology companies, which are in advanced stages of setting up data centres in Chennai. 

According to a release, Guidance and the Information Technology department are working on a TN Data Centre Policy to strengthen the ecosystem for data centre companies in Tamil Nadu.  The common requirements of data centres pertaining to housing regulations and power are being worked on to encourage data centre investments and downstream investments.

Tamil Nadu has six submarine data cables with a bandwidth of 14.8 Tbps (the highest in the country). Rural areas of the State are also well connected, with more than 12,524 village panchayats with a minimum scalable  bandwidth of 1 Gbps. As per TRAI, Chennai is among the top five service areas in India for broadband subscriptions.