HCLTech has announced plans to establish its first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Data Center in Odisha through a partnership with AI startup Sarvam and the Government of Odisha. The project, with a planned capital outlay of ₹14,257 crore, marks one of the country's largest investments in sovereign AI infrastructure and reflects growing momentum around India's ambition to develop domestic AI capabilities.
The AI Data Center will be located at the upcoming Odisha Sovereign AI Park in Bhubaneswar. According to HCLTech, the investment includes financial assistance from the Odisha government and is expected to strengthen India's sovereign AI strategy by providing computing infrastructure and AI services built on domestic technology.
The facility will combine HCLTech's full-stack AI capabilities with Sarvam's foundation models to develop sector-specific AI applications for enterprises and government organisations. The companies said the collaboration will also support multilingual AI solutions and help accelerate AI adoption across public services and private industries.
The announcement follows HCLTech's recent entry into the AI infrastructure business. Earlier this month, the company unveiled plans to invest up to ₹3,500 crore in AI-focused data centres as part of its strategy to expand into the full-stack AI market. The Odisha project significantly expands that vision by bringing together infrastructure, AI models and application development under a single ecosystem.
The project is also expected to contribute to the growth of India's developer ecosystem by providing access to high-performance computing infrastructure for AI workloads. Sarvam, one of India's leading AI startups focused on foundation models and Indic language AI, will play a key role in delivering AI capabilities tailored for Indian enterprises and public sector use cases.
In parallel with the AI Data Center, HCLTech has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Odisha government to establish a Global Technology Center in Bhubaneswar. The company said the new centre is expected to create around 5,000 jobs and begin operations by 2028. It will serve as an innovation and delivery hub supporting AI-led digital transformation projects for global clients while complementing the AI Data Center.
HCLTech executives said Odisha offers a combination of modern infrastructure, policy support and a growing technology talent pool, making it a suitable location for expanding its innovation footprint. State government officials described the investment as another step toward positioning Bhubaneswar as a major technology destination and strengthening Odisha's digital economy.
The announcement also highlights increasing investment in India's AI infrastructure landscape. Global hyperscalers such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft, along with domestic players including Reliance Industries and the Adani Group, have announced large-scale AI computing and data centre projects in recent months. HCLTech's latest initiative places the company among the major technology firms investing in compute infrastructure required to power next-generation AI applications.
The Odisha AI Data Center is expected to support enterprise AI deployments, government applications and sovereign AI initiatives by enabling secure, locally hosted AI infrastructure. As organisations increasingly seek domestic AI capabilities and data sovereignty, projects such as this are expected to play an important role in expanding India's AI ecosystem while supporting the country's broader digital transformation agenda.