Meta has signed an agreement with Reliance Industries to lease its first AI-enabled data center in India. Reliance will build the 168 MW facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat, with options to scale capacity.

The deal extends a partnership that began with Meta’s $5.7 billion investment in Jio Platforms in 2020. It also arrives as data centers face growing public scrutiny over electricity and water consumption.

According to the announcement, renewable energy will power the Jamnagar facility, while desalinated seawater will cool it. Meta will cover the full cost of the energy and water supporting the site. 

Meta pointed to Jamnagar’s strategic value, where Reliance is constructing a massive data center campus backed by the energy capacity that advanced AI systems demand.

“We’re proud to be working with Reliance to build our first AI-enabled data center in India. This world-class facility in Jamnagar will help us scale our AI infrastructure globally while deepening our long-term investment in India’s economy,”  Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Meta, said.

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We’re announcing Meta’s first AI-enabled data center in India. This marks both a significant milestone in our global infrastructure expansion and India’s growing role in the global AI ecosystem.https://t.co/3cSiScsq9C

In addition, Meta also contracted nearly 1 GW of new clean energy in India. CleanMax will supply 837 MW of solar and wind projects in Rajasthan and Karnataka. Fourth Partner Energy will add 88 MW across Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh.

“Meta is investing aggressively to expand our capacity footprint to support our technologies, services, and AI ambitions, which serve billions of people worldwide. India’s rapidly growing tech-forward digital economy, its massive user base, and the strength of our partnership with Reliance make India an ideal place to invest,” the blog added.

The AI buildout has stoked fears, voiced by figures like Senator Elizabeth Warren, that households will absorb the cost of surging power demand.

A single AI data center uses as much electricity as 100,000 households—and utility companies are passing the upgrade costs to you, not to the trillion-dollar tech giants.

I've opened an investigation. These companies need to pay their costs.

Entergy CEO Drew Marsh recently rejected those concerns.

“Data centers really want to be good neighbors. They have reputations that they want to protect, and they want to be part of the community,” Marsh told CNBC.

Separately, research published in March 2026 by the Institute for Energy Research found no statistically significant correlation between the number of data centers in a state and its current electricity prices. Two other recent reports reached comparable conclusions.

Meanwhile, states are also moving to shield their citizens. Last week, Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon signed an executive order requiring data center developers to cover the grid costs their projects create.

Whether similar cost-shielding models reassure communities in India and beyond may shape how fast the next wave of AI facilities gets built.

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The post Meta Turns to Reliance as AI Data Center Race Reaches India appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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