E-Paper
Meta’s first India data centre at Reliance campus? Mark Zuckerberg held talks during Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant gala
The report claimed that Mark Zuckerberg-led company finalised deal with Reliance following discussions at pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani.
Meta is likely to house its first data centre in India at Reliance Industries campus in Chennai, Economic Times reported citing people in the know. The data centre is aimed at generating content locally in Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The report claimed that Mark Zuckerberg-led company finalised the deal with Reliance following discussions at the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant at Jamnagar in early March. Although, the value of the deal cannot be ascertained, the report added.
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What would change for Meta after this?
Meta will be able to operate four to five nodes across multiple locations in the country which would help in faster data processing for the company. Currently, data from Indian users of Meta products is serviced at its data centre in Singapore but a centre in India will help in enhancing local advertisements to improve user experience and cut transmission costs, people in the know told the outlet.
What we know about Reliance's Tamil Nadu campus?
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The 10-acre campus is located in Chennai’s Ambattur Industrial Estate. It is a three-way joint venture between Brookfield Asset Management, Reliance Industries and Digital Realty. It has can provide up to 100-Megawatt (MW) IT load capacity.
Neil Shah, partner at technology research firm Counterpoint Research said, as per the report, “Meta would aim for greenfield data centres across key regions including Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi NCR, which can suffice its strong infrastructure requirements from fibre to power."
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“While India has the largest number of users, it is still underpenetrated if you look at the installed smartphone user br which is close to 850 million. Trying to localise user-generated content and ads is a prudent strategy as it will reduce latency, enhance AI-driven recommendations, and save transmission costs from Singapore and other hubs,” Neil Shah added.
