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OpenAI's 1 GW India Data Centre: How TCS and HyperVault Are Building Asia's Largest AI Infrastructure
Artificial Intelligence

OpenAI's 1 GW India Data Centre: How TCS and HyperVault Are Building Asia's Largest AI Infrastructure

OpenAI's 1 GW India data centre plan via TCS subsidiary HyperVault marks a pivotal shift in AI infrastructure. With land secured in Visakhapatnam and Pune, here's what it means.

Sham

Sham

AI Engineer & Founder, The Tech Archive

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July 22, 2026

Verdict: TCS's acquisition of 200 acres in Anakapalli (near Visakhapatnam) and 88 acres in Bopkhel (Pune) is the first physical footprint of what could become India's largest AI data centre cluster — a potential 1 gigawatt build-out anchored by OpenAI as the first customer of TCS's HyperVault subsidiary. Neither company has officially confirmed the sites' purpose, but the land records, the February 2026 partnership announcement, and TCS's Rs 18,000 crore joint investment with TPG all point decisively in the same direction. For India's AI ecosystem, this signals the country's transition from software services exporter to sovereign AI infrastructure host — a shift that reshapes the global compute map.

Last verified: 2026-07-22

  • TCS acquired 200 acres in Anakapalli, Andhra Pradesh (government-allotted) and 88 acres in Bopkhel, Pune (Rs 640.5 crore purchase from Hemisphere Properties).
  • OpenAI signed as HyperVault's first customer in February 2026 — starting with 100 MW, scaling to 1 GW.
  • TCS + TPG committed Rs 18,000 crore (~$2 billion) to HyperVault in November 2025.
  • TCS Q1 FY27: Rs 13,349 crore net profit, $2.6 billion annualised AI revenue run rate.
  • Google's $15 billion, 1 GW AI hub in Visakhapatnam is under construction in the same region.
  • India's total data centre capacity is projected to reach 3–5 GW by 2030, up from ~1.4 GW in mid-2025.

Pricing/infrastructure figures change often — last checked July 22, 2026.


What did TCS acquire and where?

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), through its wholly owned subsidiary HyperVault AI Data Center Limited, has secured two land parcels that are expected to house OpenAI's first data centre facilities in India, according to a report by The Economic Times on July 21, 2026.

The first parcel — 200 acres in Anakapalli district, near the city of Visakhapatnam (Vizag) — was allotted by the Andhra Pradesh state government. This site sits approximately 35 km from Visakhapatnam and is located close to Google's under-construction 1 GW hyperscale data centre campus, positioning the Anakapalli-Vizag corridor as a concentrated AI infrastructure hub.

The second parcel — 88 acres in Bopkhel, a suburb approximately 25 km north of Pune, Maharashtra — was purchased by HyperVault for Rs 640.50 crore (approximately $66.6 million) from Hemisphere Properties, a public sector enterprise responsible for monetising assets formerly owned by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL), now Tata Communications. The sale received shareholder approval on June 30, 2026, per a BSE filing. (Economic Times, Data Center Dynamics)

Neither TCS nor OpenAI has officially confirmed that these sites are for OpenAI's data centres. However, the Anakapalli acquisition was made through HyperVault — the same subsidiary created specifically for gigawatt-scale AI data centre infrastructure — and the February 2026 announcement that OpenAI would become HyperVault's first customer makes the connection clear.

Site Location Size Acquisition method Key context
Anakapalli Near Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 200 acres Government allotment Adjacent to Google's $15B, 1 GW campus
Bopkhel Near Pune, Maharashtra 88 acres Rs 640.5 crore purchase from Hemisphere Properties Former VSNL/Tata Communications asset

What is HyperVault and how does it connect to OpenAI?

HyperVault AI Data Center Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of TCS, officially launched in October 2025 as part of TCS's Q2 FY25 earnings announcement. The subsidiary was created to build 1 GW of liquid-cooled data centre capacity across India, targeting hyperscalers, AI providers, "deep-tech companies," the Indian government, and Indian enterprises as customers. (Data Center Dynamics)

TCS CEO K. Krithivasan stated on the earnings call that HyperVault would have a separate management team and estimated that every 150 MW of buildout would require approximately $1 billion in capital expenditure — meaning the full 1 GW buildout could cost roughly $6.6 billion over five to seven years. For Indian businesses currently grappling with GPU costs, this domestic capacity could eventually ease the pressure — something we explore in our guide to cutting your GPU bill by 60% in India. (Data Center Dynamics)

In February 2026, at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, OpenAI and the Tata Group announced a strategic partnership under the "OpenAI for India" initiative. The key infrastructure component: OpenAI became HyperVault's first customer, starting with 100 MW of capacity and an option to scale to 1 GW over time. (Data Center Dynamics, OpenAI blog)

The partnership extends beyond infrastructure. TCS employees gained access to Enterprise ChatGPT — one of the largest single enterprise deployments to date, covering "hundreds of thousands" of employees. TCS also committed to using OpenAI's Codex for AI-native software engineering across its global delivery teams. The OpenAI Foundation and TCS are collaborating on AI skilling programs targeting at least one million young Indians.

HyperVault has also partnered with AMD to deploy AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs, AMD EPYC Venice CPUs, and AMD Pensando Vulcano NICs across its facilities — specifically for a 200 MW AI buildout. This aligns with OpenAI's broader commitment to deploy gigawatts of AMD hardware globally. (Data Center Dynamics, CIO.com)


How much investment is behind this?

The financial backbone of HyperVault involves three layers:

  1. TCS + TPG joint commitment: Rs 18,000 crore (~$2 billion). In November 2025, TCS announced a strategic partnership with TPG, the global alternative asset management firm. Of the total Rs 18,000 crore commitment, TPG will invest up to Rs 8,820 crore (~$1 billion) and is expected to hold between 27.5% and 49% of HyperVault. TPG's investment is facilitated through TPG Rise Climate and its Global South Initiative (in partnership with ALTÉRRA), plus its Asia Real Estate business. (Tata press release, Business Standard)

  2. TCS's own capital. TCS reported Rs 1.06 trillion (~$12 billion) in cash reserves as of September 30, 2025. HyperVault is funded through a mix of equity from TCS and TPG, plus debt. (Business Standard)

  3. TCS Q1 FY27 financial results. For the quarter ending June 30, 2026, TCS reported:

    • Revenue: Rs 72,275 crore (US$ 7,624 million), up 13.9% YoY
    • Net income: Rs 13,349 crore (US$ 1,460 million), up 5% YoY
    • Annualised AI revenue run rate: $2.6 billion, up 13.6% QoQ
    • Total contract value (TCV): $9.5 billion, including an $800 million AI-led deal with SKF
    • Workforce: 593,798 employees; LTM attrition: 13.6%

    (TCS official results, Forbes India)

The $2.6 billion AI run rate is significant context: TCS is not just building data centres for others — it is actively generating AI revenue at scale, which justifies the infrastructure bet.


Why is Visakhapatnam becoming India's AI infrastructure capital?

The Anakapalli/Vizag site is not accidental. Andhra Pradesh has been aggressively positioning itself as India's premier AI infrastructure destination, and the state has secured commitments from multiple global players:

  • Google's $15 billion AI hub. In October 2025, Google announced a $15 billion investment over five years (2026–2030) to build a 1 GW hyperscale data centre campus in Visakhapatnam, in partnership with AdaniConneX and Airtel. Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, called it "the largest AI hub that we are going to be investing in anywhere in the world, outside of the United States." The campus spans sites in Adivivaram (120 acres), Tarluvada (200 acres), and the Rambilli–Achyutapuram cluster (160 acres). (Data Center Dynamics, Indian Express)

  • AI City Vizag. The Andhra Pradesh government is building "AI City Vizag" — an emerging technologies cluster anchored by the Google data centre. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu called the Google investment "more than an investment. It's actually a vision coming to life." (Business Standard)

  • Subsea cable gateway. Google is also building a new international subsea cable gateway in Visakhapatnam, connecting India's east coast to Google's global network of more than two million miles of terrestrial and undersea fibre. This complements existing cable landing stations in Chennai and Mumbai. (Indian Express)

  • State government incentives. Andhra Pradesh offers land subsidies, stamp duty exemptions, and power cost rationalisation for data centre development. The state's IT minister, Nara Lokesh, described the Vizag data centre as "the first step in making AI City Vizag India's digital powerhouse." (Business Standard)

TCS's 200-acre Anakapalli parcel falls within this same geographic cluster — meaning OpenAI's infrastructure would sit alongside Google's, creating one of the most concentrated AI compute corridors in Asia.


How does this fit into OpenAI's global Stargate strategy?

The India data centre build is part of OpenAI's Stargate initiative — a multi-year, $500 billion global infrastructure programme to build hyperscale AI data centres for training and inference. The Stargate project includes:

Region Capacity Status Partner(s)
United States 4.5 GW Under development SoftBank, Oracle
Abu Dhabi 5 GW (1 GW for OpenAI) Announced G42
Norway 520 MW Announced Nscale, Aker
India 100 MW → 1 GW Partnership signed TCS / HyperVault

(Data Centre Magazine, RCR Wireless)

India holds strategic importance for OpenAI. Sam Altman stated in February 2026 that India had become OpenAI's second-largest market by number of users, with more than 100 million weekly ChatGPT users. The "OpenAI for India" initiative — launched alongside the Tata partnership — is designed to build "AI with India, for India, and in India," with data residency, security, and compliance for mission-critical and government workloads. (OpenAI blog, The Tech Portal)

A 1 GW data centre is far beyond typical hyperscale scale. Conventional large data centres consume 20–100 MW, making OpenAI's proposed facility roughly 10 times larger than a standard hyperscale operation. For context, global data centres consumed 7.4 GW in total in 2023 — meaning a single 1 GW facility would represent approximately 14% of that global consumption. (Data Centre Magazine)


What is TCS's stock performance telling investors?

Even as TCS builds toward this infrastructure play, its stock has struggled. As of July 21, 2026, TCS shares traded at approximately Rs 2,220, down 31.19% year-to-date in calendar year 2026. The broader Nifty IT index fell 23% YTD through March 2026. (Business Today)

However, analysts see the AI infrastructure pivot as a potential long-term catalyst:

  • Kranthi Bathini, Equity Strategist at WealthMills Securities: "With an increased focus on data centres and AI, TCS is strengthening its presence in the data centre segment through its collaboration with OpenAI. This reflects a long-term strategic focus and could support its long-term growth prospects." (Business Today)

  • Ravi Singh, Chief Research Officer at Mastertrust: "The reported move to acquire land in Vizag and Pune suggests the company is preparing for the next wave of AI-led growth rather than just expanding its traditional IT business." (Business Today)

The tension is clear: TCS's traditional IT services business faces near-term headwinds (discretionary spending cuts, AI-led pricing pressure, a 2% workforce reduction in FY26), but its AI infrastructure bet — the HyperVault-OpenAI play — represents a fundamentally different business model. For 30 years, Indian IT sold services on top of other people's infrastructure. HyperVault is TCS building its own. This pivot toward infrastructure ownership is happening across Indian IT — HCLTech's record $18 million CEO package, for instance, signals a similar AI infrastructure bet.


How big is India's data centre market and how fast is it growing?

India's data centre capacity is expanding rapidly, though estimates vary by source. Here is a comparison of major projections:

Source Current capacity (2025) Projected by 2030 Investment pipeline
Avendus Capital 1.1 GW (2024) 3 GW $1–1.5B/year, doubling
Macquarie 1.4 GW (mid-2025) 5x growth (potentially ~7 GW) $30–45B cumulative capex
Vestian 1.4–1.6 GW ~5 GW ~$30B cumulative by end-2026
Colliers 1,263 MW (2024) 4,500+ MW $20–25B additional by 2030
Mordor Intelligence 3.31 GW (2025) 6.69 GW —

(IBEF / Avendus, IBEF / Macquarie, ET Energyworld / Vestian, Colliers / Woodkraft)

Key structural advantages driving India's data centre growth include:

  • Construction costs: $6–7 million per megawatt, lower than Tokyo or Sydney. (Vestian)
  • Government incentives: State-level policies offer land subsidies, stamp duty exemptions, 20-year tax exemptions, and single-window clearances. (Vestian)
  • Foreign investment: 80% of the $13–15 billion deployed in India's data centre sector between 2020 and 2024 came from foreign institutional investors. (Vestian)
  • Data localisation push: India's DPDP Act and sectoral data residency requirements are driving domestic infrastructure demand.

If HyperVault reaches its full 1 GW target, that single project would add approximately 20–35% to India's entire projected 2030 capacity, depending on which forecast you use.


What this means for you

If you're an Indian business or startup: This buildout means that within 2–3 years, you'll have access to sovereign, in-country AI compute capacity from OpenAI at a scale that didn't exist before. For regulated industries (banking, healthcare, government) that require data residency, this removes a major barrier to deploying frontier AI models. If you're currently routing AI workloads through Singapore or US regions, plan now for the option to keep them on Indian soil. If you're building an enterprise AI strategy, read our analysis on why enterprise AI strategies fail and the infrastructure readiness gap.

If you're an investor: The TCS-HyperVault-OpenAI triangle represents a structural shift. TCS is transitioning from a pure services play to an infrastructure-owning platform company. The stock is down 31% YTD, but the AI revenue run rate ($2.6B annualised) and the infrastructure pipeline (1 GW + TPG backing) suggest the market may be pricing near-term headwinds without fully crediting the long-option value. The key risk is execution: 1 GW is a 5–7 year build, and demand may not materialise at projected rates if the AI inference market shifts.

If you're in AI infrastructure or cloud: The Vizag–Anakapalli corridor is becoming one of Asia's most concentrated AI compute hubs. With Google's $15B campus and potentially OpenAI's first India data centre within the same geography, expect downstream demand for cooling systems, power infrastructure, fibre connectivity, and edge capacity in tier-II cities. The supply chain opportunity is regional, not just national. For security teams, securing these new AI data centres will follow the same principles we cover in our LLM infrastructure security guide.


FAQ

Q: Has OpenAI confirmed these data centre sites in India? A: No. As of July 22, 2026, neither TCS nor OpenAI has officially confirmed that the Anakapalli and Bopkhel land parcels are for OpenAI's data centres. The Economic Times reported the connection based on sources familiar with the development. The evidence is circumstantial but strong: the land was acquired through HyperVault (TCS's dedicated AI data centre subsidiary), and OpenAI was announced as HyperVault's first customer in February 2026 with a 100 MW initial commitment scaling to 1 GW.

Q: How much power is 1 GW, and why does it matter for AI? A: 1 gigawatt (1,000 megawatts) is enough electricity to power roughly 750,000 average Indian homes. In data centre terms, it is approximately 10 times larger than a typical hyperscale facility (which consumes 20–100 MW). AI training and inference workloads require enormous concentrated compute power — a single large GPU cluster can draw tens of megawatts. A 1 GW campus can house tens of thousands of GPUs and support both model training and large-scale inference for millions of users.

Q: What is HyperVault and who owns it? A: HyperVault AI Data Center Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of TCS, launched in October 2025 to build 1 GW of liquid-cooled AI data centre capacity across India. Private equity firm TPG invested up to Rs 8,820 crore ($1 billion) in November 2025 and is expected to hold 27.5–49% of HyperVault. The total TCS+TPG commitment is Rs 18,000 crore ($2 billion), funded through equity and debt. TCS estimates $1 billion in capex per 150 MW, making the full 1 GW build a roughly $6.6 billion project.

Q: Why is Visakhapatnam attracting so much AI infrastructure investment? A: Andhra Pradesh offers land subsidies, stamp duty exemptions, and power cost rationalisation for data centre development. The state is building "AI City Vizag" — a dedicated emerging technologies cluster. Google committed $15 billion to a 1 GW AI hub in Visakhapatnam in October 2025, including a new subsea cable gateway. The region also has relatively low construction costs ($6–7 million per MW), coastal access for subsea fibre, and active government support under CM Chandrababu Naidu. TCS's Anakapalli site sits within this same corridor.

Q: How does this compare to Google's investment in the same region? A: Google's $15 billion, 1 GW AI hub in Visakhapatnam (October 2025) and TCS's HyperVault build-out are separate projects but geographically adjacent. Google is partnering with AdaniConneX and Airtel for its campus. TCS's HyperVault is a separate subsidiary with TPG as co-investor and OpenAI as anchor tenant. Both benefit from Andhra Pradesh's AI City incentives and the subsea cable infrastructure being built in Vizag. Together, they could bring 2+ GW of AI capacity to the Vizag-Anakapalli corridor, making it one of the largest concentrated AI compute regions in Asia.

Q: What is the Stargate initiative and how does India fit in? A: Stargate is OpenAI's global $500 billion AI infrastructure programme, building hyperscale data centres for model training and inference worldwide. announced projects include 4.5 GW in the US (with SoftBank and Oracle), 5 GW in Abu Dhabi (1 GW for OpenAI), 520 MW in Norway (with Nscale and Aker), and 100 MW–1 GW in India (with TCS/HyperVault). India is strategically important as OpenAI's second-largest user market (100M+ weekly ChatGPT users), and the Stargate-India build provides data residency for government and enterprise workloads that require in-country compute.

Q: What is the timeline for the HyperVault build-out? A: TCS CEO K. Krithivasan stated in October 2025 that HyperVault expects to complete the 1 GW buildout within 5–7 years at a uniform cadence, with the possibility of acceleration if demand increases. The initial OpenAI phase is 100 MW. The Anakapalli and Bopkhel land acquisitions in July 2026 represent the first concrete site selection, suggesting construction could begin in late 2026 or early 2027.


Sources
  1. TCS acquires land in Vizag, Pune for OpenAI data sites — The Economic Times, July 21, 2026
  2. Tata acquires land in India for OpenAI data centers — report — Data Center Dynamics, July 22, 2026
  3. OpenAI partners with Tata to deploy data center capacity in India — Data Center Dynamics, February 19, 2026
  4. India's Tata launches business entity for 1GW data center build-out — Data Center Dynamics, November 3, 2025
  5. TCS Secures $1Bn Investment from TPG to Accelerate AI Data Center Business HyperVault — Tata Group Press Release, November 20, 2025
  6. TCS begins FY27 with continued growth; wins multiple AI transformation deals — TCS Official Press Release, July 9, 2026
  7. TCS AI business touches $2.6 billion run rate — Forbes India, July 9, 2026
  8. TCS Q1: AI run-rate hits $2.6 billion after Anthropic, Mistral partnerships — Financial Express, July 9, 2026
  9. TCS shares down 31% YTD; experts say AI infrastructure push could support long-term growth — Business Today, July 21, 2026
  10. Google confirms $15bn data center project in Andhra Pradesh, India — Data Center Dynamics, October 14, 2025
  11. In biggest India investment, Google to invest $15 bn in AI data centre in Andhra Pradesh — Indian Express, October 15, 2025
  12. Andhra govt to sign Google deal for AI hub, 1-GW data centre in Vizag — Business Standard, October 13, 2025
  13. OpenAI Plans 1GW India Data Centre in Stargate AI Push — Data Centre Magazine, September 1, 2025
  14. OpenAI for India — official announcement — OpenAI Blog, February 2026
  15. TCS and OpenAI Sign Strategic Partnership for Enterprise AI — CIO.com, February 2026
  16. India's data centre capacity to hit three GW by 2030 on investment surge: Report — IBEF / Avendus Capital, July 2025
  17. India's data center capacity to double by 2027, rise 5x by 2030: Macquarie — IBEF / Macquarie, October 2025
  18. India's Data Centre capacity to reach 5 GW by 2030; Market size $22 billion: Vestian — ET Energyworld, April 2026
  19. TPG to pump $1 billion into TCS data centre business HyperVault — Business Standard, November 20, 2025
  20. Tata Group, OpenAI announce partnership to build 100 MW data centre — Business Standard, February 19, 2026
  21. OpenAI locks 100MW Tata data center deal, targets 1GW in India — The Tech Buzz, February 2026
  22. TCS adds Anakapalli and Pune sites to fuel its data center push — W.Media, July 21, 2026

Updates & Corrections
  • 2026-07-22 — Initial publication. All facts verified against primary sources (TCS official press releases, Tata Group announcements, Data Center Dynamics, Economic Times, Forbes India, Financial Express, Business Standard, IBEF/Macquarie, Vestian). The TCS-OpenAI land connection is reported but not officially confirmed by either company; this is clearly labelled throughout.

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Sham

Sham

AI Engineer & Founder, The Tech Archive

AI engineer (Azure AI-102/AI-900). Writes practical, tested, hype-free guides on using AI for real work and small business at The Tech Archive.

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