The cost of India’s AI data centre boom

Let’s say an AI data centre is coming to your neighbourhood; it’s easy to feel like you’ve been chosen for the future.

Like the Avengers just set up Headquarters next door. 

But then you look at the cost. Enormous amounts of electricity. Millions of litres of water. Hundreds of acres of land. And surprisingly few jobs.

New York, Texas and Virginia. These are all states in the US that are shutting down data centres. An estimate by Tech Radar says in just the first three months of 2026, $130 billion worth of data centre projects have been blocked or delayed across the US.

And a Reuters-Ipsos poll in June found something interesting. A majority of Americans did not oppose data centres in general. But 59 percent said they did not want one built within ten miles of their home.

In other words, people may like the idea of AI. They just don't necessarily want the infrastructure in their backyard.

And here is the strange part. While other countries and communities are asking questions, India is competing to attract more data centres to the extent that the government is inviting companies to set up data centres in ecologically sensitive Great Nicobar and Little Andaman. 

In Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam alone, proposed data centres add up to around 9 gigawatts. So why is India inviting this boom? What does it mean for our water, electricity and land?

And when people call this a new form of colonialism, is that just rhetoric, or is there something more to the argument?

Let me explain. 

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Produced by Megha Mukundan, Script by Lakshmi Priya, Jahnavi, Edited by Nikhil Sekhar, and Camera by Ajay R.