Tata Communications has announced plans to invest ₹4,350 crore in developing approximately 10,000 kilometres of AI-ready connectivity infrastructure across India, as demand for high-speed networks linking data centres and artificial intelligence hubs continues to increase.
The proposed infrastructure, described by the company as an AI Super Highway, will connect major data centre corridors through a high-capacity fibre network designed to support AI workloads, cloud computing and enterprise applications.
The investment will be implemented in phases, with capital expenditure funded through the company's operating cash flows. The project is intended to expand Tata Communications' existing network capacity and support growing demand for data centre-to-data centre connectivity.
According to the company's regulatory filing, the proposed network will add approximately 6 petabits per second (Pbps) of capacity to its existing 1.25 Pbps network, which is currently operating at around 70% to 80% utilisation.
The first phase will cover the Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad-Chennai corridor, connecting established and emerging locations for hyperscale data centres and AI infrastructure.
Subsequent phases will extend the network to other data centre ecosystems, including Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Jamnagar and GIFT City.
The infrastructure will also connect domestic data centre clusters with international cable landing stations and integrate with Tata Communications' global network backbone.
This integration is expected to support connectivity between Indian AI infrastructure and overseas cloud and computing networks.
Ganesh Lakshminarayanan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Tata Communications, said India's data centre-to-data centre connectivity market could exceed $1 billion over the medium term.
He indicated that a growing proportion of the company's network expansion was being supported by anchor customer commitments and contracted demand.
Rupesh Chokshi, Chief Product and Technology Officer and Executive Vice President and Global Business Head of Network Services at Tata Communications, highlighted the increasing bandwidth and low-latency requirements associated with AI workloads.
The company is designing the network to serve hyperscale cloud providers, AI platforms, neocloud operators and enterprises requiring large-scale data transmission between computing facilities.
The proposed investment comes as AI training, inference and cloud applications place additional demands on network infrastructure.
Unlike conventional enterprise connectivity, large AI workloads can require substantial data transfers between geographically distributed data centres, increasing the need for reliable, high-capacity networks.
Tata Communications currently operates a global network comprising more than 500,000 kilometres of subsea optical fibre and over 200,000 kilometres of terrestrial fibre.
The planned expansion will build on this infrastructure while the company continues developing its existing national long-distance and metropolitan networks.
Through the proposed AI Super Highway, Tata Communications aims to address emerging connectivity requirements as AI adoption and data centre investments increase across India.
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