Digital Realty, Brookfield, and Reliance Industries are set to launch a new data center in Chennai, India, on January 12.

The launch is part of the three-way joint venture between the companies called Digital Connexion.

Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries said at the Tamil Nadu Global Investors Meet: "Reliance has partnered with Canada's Brookfield asset management and US-based Digital Realty to set up a state-of-the-art data center, which will be opened next week."

The data center is described as having 20MW of IT capacity and is a greenfield development. In addition to the Chennai data center, Digital Connexion has purchased 2.15 acres of land in Mumbai to develop a 40MW facility.

According to the Digital Connexion website, the Chennai campus is located in Ambattur and will eventually comprise four data center buildings for a total of 100MW of IT capacity. The site spans 10 acres.

This first data center to go live, MAA10, spans 196,000 sq ft across seven stories. Construction on the data center began in February 2023, and the plot was purchased in February 2022 for $30m.

CB Velayuthan, CEO of Digital Connexion said: "We are excited about the launch of our first data center in Chennai. This 100MW campus in Ambattur is ideal, given the availability of the necessary power supply, high number of submarine cable landing stations in the local area, and the state government's aspirations to make Chennai the top data center destination in India."

"With a population of 1.4 billion and a growing focus on the delivery of digital services, India represents a key market opportunity for Digital Realty and our partners and customers. We believe MAA10's next-generation data center infrastructure and Digital Realty's connected global open data center platform provide the foundational pillars our customers need to innovate and tap into this thriving market.," added Serene Nah, managing director and head of Asia Pacific, Digital Realty.

In addition to the data center developments, Ambani says the company will be investing in renewable energy and green hydrogen developments in Tamil Nadu. "We shall work closely with the state government to promote sustainable development, which is necessary to save Mother Earth from the climate crisis. I am confident that the state government will support our forthcoming initiatives with viable policies."

Digital Realty and Brookfield originally launched what was then called BAM Digital Realty as a 50:50 joint venture in July 2021 with the aim of building and operating facilities in “multiple Indian metros." It was rebranded to Digital Connexion after Reliance joined the venture last year.

In October 2023, Digital Connexion appointed a new CEO, CB Velayuthan, taking over from Seema Ambastha.