Tata Communications to invest ₹4,280 crore in 10,000-km AI superhighway; data centre connectivity market may top ₹9,500 crore

Tata Communications on Monday announced plans to invest around ₹4,280 crore to build a 10,000-km high-speed, low-latency fibre network connecting India's key Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centres and hyperscale computing hubs. The proposed AI superhighway is aimed at meeting rising demand for reliable, high-capacity connectivity as cloud adoption, AI deployment and data localisation requirements accelerate.

The investment, pegged at $450 million in the company's announcement, will create an AI-ready connectivity network integrated with Tata Communications' global backbone. The infrastructure is designed to support next-generation AI workloads, including those run by global hyperscalers, neocloud providers, digital platforms and enterprises.

Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai corridor in first phase

The first phase will focus on the Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai corridor, a key growth route for AI and hyperscale infrastructure. Subsequent phases will extend connectivity to emerging data centre ecosystems across eastern and western India, including Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Jamnagar and GIFT City.

The network will link major domestic AI corridors and data centre clusters with international cable landing stations, enabling connectivity between India and global AI hubs. Tata Communications will also expand its existing national long-distance and metropolitan networks to serve enterprise and data centre requirements.

Data centre connectivity market seen exceeding ₹9,500 crore

Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, MD and CEO of Tata Communications, said the domestic data centre-to-data centre connectivity market could exceed $1 billion, or approximately ₹9,500 crore, over the medium term. He added that a growing proportion of the company's network expansion was being driven by anchor customer commitments and contracted demand.

Rupesh Chokshi, chief product and technology officer and executive vice-president and global business head for network services, said AI infrastructure required networks built for speed, scale and resilience. The company's AI Network Fabric is intended to provide ultra-low-latency, high-capacity connectivity for customers scaling AI operations.

Global network expansion to complement investment

Tata Communications operates more than 5 lakh km of subsea optical fibre and over 2 lakh km of terrestrial fibre. In June 2026, it announced plans for a new subsea cable system between Mumbai and Singapore and joined a consortium developing another cable connecting Chennai and Singapore, expected to be ready for service in the fourth quarter of 2029.

The planned investment is intended to strengthen India's position as a global digital infrastructure gateway as demand for AI computing and data centre capacity expands.