NTT Data India has announced a $500 million investment over the next 12-18 months to accelerate AI platform development, expand data center capacity, enhance sub-sea cable infrastructure, and address the financial sector’s demand for sovereign cloud solutions.
The company has already invested around $3 billion in India since 2007 through data center development and acquisitions. “A major portion of this new investment will go into data centers, but we are also focused on building campuses, expanding our workforce, and upgrading our innovation center in Bengaluru,” said Avinash Joshi, CEO of NTT Data India. He added that financial institutions increasingly require on-premises sovereign cloud solutions for data security and compliance.
India currently hosts 16 NTT data center campuses, with three new locations set to open in Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Navi Mumbai. The company’s total installed capacity of 290 MW for IT facilities will expand by an additional 210 MW over the next two to three years.
On submarine cable infrastructure, NTT Data is set to commission an expansion of its Malaysia, India, Singapore Transit (MIST) submarine cable system by June 2025. Spanning 8,100 km, the cable can carry over 200 terabits per second (Tbps), connecting Malaysia, India, Singapore, and Thailand. Joshi emphasized the increasing importance of undersea cables in AI and data center connectivity, stating, “Right now, there is no more efficient technology than sea cables for intercontinental connectivity.”
As part of its innovation drive, NTT Data is upgrading its Bengaluru innovation center to focus on AI, digital twin, and quantum computing projects. The company is also advancing its Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN), an All-Photonics Network (APN) technology aimed at interconnecting data centers in the Mumbai region. Expected to be available globally by 2030, IOWN will enable high-performance data transmission at lower costs.
Akira Shimada, President and CEO of NTT, emphasized India’s strategic role in the company’s global plans, ranking among its top 10 revenue-generating markets, with expectations to enter the top five soon.
NTT is making a global investment of $59 billion from FY23 to FY27 across growth areas, including AI and data centers. “We are committed to delivering our integrated full-stack proposition to our clients, spanning data centers, networks, applications, cloud, security, and AI solutions,” Shimada said.