India’s third largest IT services company HCL Technologies (HCLTech) on Friday announced to set up a world-class global technology centre and an AI-optimised data centre in Bhubaneswar to innovate and deliver AI-led digital solutions to global enterprises. This will be the company’s first AI data centre.
The proposed global technology centre and AI data centre will come up in the upcoming Odisha Sovereign AI Park, being developed in partnership with Sarvam AI and the Odisha government. The technology centre expected to start its operations by 2028 will house 5,000 employees.
Official sources said, total investment for the project would be around ₹15,000 crore involving three entities – HCLTech, Sarvam and the Odisha government. A first of its kind project in India, the facility will provide secure, scalable and inclusive digital infrastructure for government, research institutions, startups and enterprises.
Although HCLTech has not disclosed its investment for the proposed AI data centre, C Vijayakumar, CEO and managing director of HCLTech, said during the recent earnings conference that the company would make strategic investments of up to ₹3,500 crore for building data centres.
However, its proposed global development centre, which will be established at a cost of ₹730 crore, was approved by the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) headed by Odisha Chief Secretary Anu Garg recently.
The announcement marked HCLTech’s formal entry into the AI infrastructure business and is expected to strengthen India’s sovereign AI ecosystem by providing high-performance computing infrastructure for AI research, model development and enterprise deployment. This follows HCLTech’s recent acquisition of a 10.5 per cent stake in Sarvam AI for $150 million.
“Apart from HCLTech’s investment, Sarvam will raise a substantial amount for the upcoming Sovereign AI hub. The Odisha government will also support significantly through subsidy and incentives mandated in its existing AI and other policies,” a senior official told Business Standard.
The facility will leverage HCLTech’s full-stack AI capabilities together with Sarvam’s indigenous AI foundation models to deliver sector-specific AI applications for both government and private enterprises while addressing India’s growing need for sovereign AI infrastructure. The centre will also contribute to the delivery of multi-lingual AI-based services to the last mile.
India’s largest IT services player Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has also announced its foray into the data centre segment and raised $1 billion from private equity player TPG.
Vijayakumar described the proposed facility as a significant milestone in the company’s full-stack AI strategy. “This project will enable us to serve the large demand for sovereign AI solutions and unlock the scale of our strategic partnership with Sarvam. Odisha offers a progressive policy environment backed by excellent infrastructure, and we look forward to working with the state in collaboration with Sarvam,” he said.
The announcement came just days after HCLTech disclosed its plans to enter the full-stack AI market. Commenting on the investment, HCLTech Chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra said the company has long been a flagbearer of India’s technology industry and is committed to strengthening the country’s sovereign AI ecosystem.
“In line with the Digital India and Atmanirbhar Bharat vision, we strive to be an enabler of India’s sovereign AI ecosystem with differentiated offerings across the value chain through focused investments and partnerships. We are pleased to start this endeavor in partnership with the Odisha government and Sarvam,” she said.
An MoU was signed between HCLTech, the Odisha government and Sarvam for the facility in the presence of Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, Electronics and Information Technology Minister Mukesh Mahaling and senior executives from HCLTech and Sarvam.
“This partnership will strengthen Odisha’s position as one of India’s leading centres of technology, innovation and knowledge economy. The state is ready for landmark investments like the partnership with HCLTech. Our focus is on realising the Purvodaya vision with the execution of announcements at speed,” Majhi said.
The investment, the company said, would accelerate India’s sovereign AI and data ecosystem by enabling local developers, startups, enterprises and public institutions to build and deploy AI applications on secure, indigenous computing infrastructure.
Sarvam Co-founder Pratyush Kumar said the Odisha Sovereign AI Park would connect high-performance computing with Indian AI models and real-world applications.
“The Odisha Sovereign AI Park will connect high-performance compute with Indian models and real-world applications. We are excited to bring Sarvam’s full-stack AI capabilities to enterprises and public systems at scale,” he said.
In its exchange filings, HCLTech stated that the global technology centre will complement its proposed AI data centre. The investment will not only contribute to direct and indirect employment but also boost the local talent ecosystem with a focus on next-generation skills. For this, HCLTech plans to engage deeply with local educational institutions and the government through structured interventions.
Rahul Singh, COO – Corporate Functions, HCLTech said, “At HCLTech, through our new vistas initiative, we are focused on expanding our presence across India to bring opportunities closer to where the talent is. Odisha offers a great mix of quality infrastructure and vibrant talent pool, and we look forward to developing Bhubaneshwar as one of our key global innovation and delivery hubs.”
The AI data centre is expected to play a critical role in supporting GPU-intensive workloads required for AI model training and inference while meeting growing requirements related to data localisation and secure digital infrastructure.
In India, HCLTech employs more than 170,000 people across its technology campuses and centers in Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Nagpur, Madurai, Vijayawada and GIFT City.
