Meta is partnering with Reliance Industries to build its first AI-enabled data centre in India, a 168 megawatt facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat, with delivery targeted within two years, Moneycontrol reported on June 10, 2026. Reliance will develop the campus and provide end-to-end services spanning design, construction, utility management, renewable power, network connectivity, and managed services, with an option to scale capacity further.
The 168-Megawatt Bet Meta Is Placing in Jamnagar
Meta is partnering with Reliance Industries to build its first AI-enabled data centre in India, a 168 megawatt facility in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Reliance will develop the campus end-to-end, from design and construction through utility management, renewable power, network connectivity, and managed services. The first phase is to be delivered within two years, with an option to scale capacity further, per the Moneycontrol report. The site is in the western Indian state of Gujarat, where Reliance is already building a broader AI campus.
The campus lands in the same Gujarat city where Reliance is building gigawatt-scale AI-ready data centres as part of a separate partnership with Google Cloud. The June 10, 2026 Moneycontrol report frames the Meta build as the social networking giant’s first AI data centre inside India. Moneycontrol first reported Meta was mulling its first data centre in India back in March 2024.
For Meta, the rationale is global as much as it is local. In Zuckerberg’s words, the facility is meant to scale Meta’s AI infrastructure globally while deepening the company’s long-term investment in India’s economy. The Jamnagar build is also Meta’s first confirmed AI data centre on the Indian subcontinent, putting physical compute inside the country at a time when hyperscalers are localising data operations. Reliance has told Moneycontrol the Gujarat site offers delivery capability, renewable energy, water availability, proximity to India’s western submarine cable landing stations, and Jio’s fibre network.
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, Meta, per the Moneycontrol report
The Lease That Brings Meta to Jamnagar
The Jamnagar deal is structured as a lease, per the Moneycontrol report. Reliance will own, build, and operate the campus; Meta will rent the full capacity to host its own AI workloads. The lease sits inside the wider Reliance-Meta joint venture, in which Reliance holds roughly 70 percent ownership and Meta holds 30 percent. The arrangement lets Meta add a new India foothold to its global AI footprint without taking on the full capital expenditure of constructing the campus itself, per the June 10, 2026 Moneycontrol report.
Reliance is also separately targeting 100 to 120 MW of operational capacity at Jamnagar by 2026 in an initial deployment phase for its broader AI campus, the same source reported. The Meta lease and the 100-120 MW Reliance build sit on the same Gujarat site but run as separate workstreams. The new campus will be powered by renewable energy and cooled with desalinated seawater, per Reliance’s statement in the Moneycontrol report.
| Party | Role | What it puts in |
|---|---|---|
| Meta (JV minority, 30%) | Anchor lessee; enterprise AI platform | 168 MW lease, Llama-based platform, long-running Jio relationship |
| Reliance (JV majority, 70%) | Builder, operator, majority owner | Land, design, construction, utilities, renewable power, network, managed services |
Reliance Is the Larger Stake in the Deal
While Meta takes the headline, Reliance is the larger stake in the deal. The Indian conglomerate holds 70 percent of the joint venture, is building the campus, and will operate the facility.
The data centre gives Reliance an anchor hyperscaler tenant at a moment when it is racing to build out a gigawatt-scale AI campus in Jamnagar. The Moneycontrol report frames the deal as a significant expansion of the strategic relationship between the two companies. The two had earlier formed a $100 million joint venture in August 2025 to develop enterprise AI solutions for enterprises in India and select international markets, with the transaction expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, per the August 2025 announcement at Reliance’s 48th annual general meeting.
Under that earlier JV agreement, RIL and Meta had jointly committed to an initial investment of Rs 855 crore to fund the venture, with RIL contributing 70 percent and Meta bringing in the rest of the 30 percent. The social networking giant had also invested $5.7 billion in Jio Platforms for 9.99 percent stake in 2020, the foundation of the broader commercial relationship. The Jamnagar data centre lease deepens that relationship on Reliance’s home turf, and the wider India AI bet is already moving the stock; Reliance shares jumped over 2 percent in early August 2025 trading after the JV announcement.
Reliance’s chairman framed the data centre deal as a marker of India’s readiness for the AI era.
This partnership with Meta marks a transformative moment for India’s digital infrastructure. Building India’s first built-to-suit data centre for a global technology leader of Meta’s scale demonstrates India’s readiness to be at the forefront of the global AI revolution.
– Mukesh D Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director, Reliance Industries, per the Moneycontrol report
- 168 MW: Capacity of the Jamnagar facility Meta is leasing from Reliance
- 2 years: Delivery target for the first phase
- 70 / 30: Reliance / Meta ownership split in the $100 million joint venture
How Meta Went From Chennai Exploration to a Jamnagar Lease
Moneycontrol first reported Meta was mulling its first data centre in India back in March 2024. At that stage, the conversations were exploratory. CryptoBriefing later reported that the early discussions between Meta and Reliance began in 2024, when Meta explored leasing computing capacity in Chennai.
Those initial conversations evolved into a larger collaboration. The shift from Chennai to Jamnagar suggests the scope of Meta’s needs grew beyond what was initially contemplated. Jamnagar, where Reliance is already building out its gigawatt-scale AI campus, gave Meta a partner with the land, power, and network to match the 168 MW ask. The August 2025 JV formalised the relationship; the June 2026 data centre lease operationalises it.
The relationship has deepened in stages. In 2020, Meta took a 9.99 percent stake in Jio Platforms for $5.7 billion, the financial anchor of the commercial relationship. The August 2025 $100 million JV translated that financial relationship into a joint product roadmap built on Meta’s Llama models. The June 2026 Jamnagar lease extends the relationship into Meta’s own compute footprint.
The Reliance Intelligence Strategy Behind the Deal
Meta is not the only hyperscaler coming to Jamnagar. Reliance has separately partnered with Google to build a dedicated AI cloud infrastructure in India, anchored by a major data centre in the same Gujarat city, per the same August 2025 Reliance AGM announcements.
RCR Wireless reported on September 3, 2025, that Reliance launched Reliance Intelligence as a wholly owned subsidiary to focus on four areas: AI infrastructure development, global partnerships, enterprise and consumer AI services, and talent incubation. The new AI unit is designed to turn the conglomerate into an AI powerhouse, with gigawatt-scale green data centres planned for Jamnagar and phased rollouts tied to India’s AI demand growth. Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet, said the Google-Reliance partnership is building on a decade of work to bring affordable internet access to millions, per the September 2025 Reliance Intelligence launch.
At the same 48th AGM, Reliance also announced an AI-based smart glasses product called JioFrames, a consumer cloud service called JioAICloud that has 40 million users, and AI features for its JioHotstar streaming platform, which the company said has over 600 million users and 300 million paying subscribers. The conglomerate is positioning AI infrastructure the way it once positioned its petroleum refineries, as a capital-intensive business where scale is the competitive advantage, CryptoBriefing reported.
The Meta data centre lease is the first major US-tech anchor tenant on Reliance Intelligence’s Jamnagar campus, sitting alongside the Google Cloud region. CryptoBriefing reported Reliance has separately committed over $11 billion through joint ventures with partners like Brookfield and Digital Realty, with the stated ambition of reaching 1 gigawatt of total AI data center capacity. The conglomerate has also unveiled a $110 billion multi-year plan covering data centres and renewable energy infrastructure, the same source reported. The Meta lease slots into a Reliance AI bet that goes well beyond any single hyperscaler customer.
Meta’s deal also lands inside a broader US-India AI infrastructure push. Rival Google announced plans in October 2025 to invest $15 billion over the next five years to set up a large-scale AI hub in Visakhapatnam, marking its biggest investment outside the United States so far, per the same Moneycontrol report. Google held the groundbreaking ceremony for that facility on April 28.
Where the 168 Megawatts Sit in Meta’s Global AI Plan
The Jamnagar lease is the latest piece of a Meta AI infrastructure push that has stacked up over six years. The build sits on top of the August 2025 Reliance joint venture, the 2020 $5.7 billion Jio investment, and the creation earlier in 2025 of Meta Superintelligence Labs. Zuckerberg has described the Jamnagar facility as a way to scale Meta’s AI infrastructure globally.
The build is being financed against a tighter cost backdrop at Meta. The Jamnagar lease is part of an aggressive AI infrastructure buildout that has also come with layoffs and cost-cutting across the company in 2026. The TechCrunch report on the August 2025 JV noted that Meta’s restructuring into Superintelligence Labs came after a string of expensive top AI hires. The earlier Reliance collaboration committed Meta to a $100 million JV investment; the new lease commits Meta to multi-year compute at the Jamnagar facility, a structurally larger commitment on Meta’s side too.
The Jamnagar campus is targeted for delivery within two years, with an option to scale capacity further. Reliance is also separately targeting 100 to 120 MW of operational capacity at Jamnagar by 2026 as an initial deployment phase for its broader AI campus, CryptoBriefing reported. The first phase of the Meta build is on a two-year delivery clock as of the June 10, 2026 Moneycontrol report.
