CHENNAI: Taking a divergent view on Google's Data centre moving out of the State, Industries Minister TRB Rajaa said that Tamil Nadu will not allocate its scarce urban resources to large, water and power-intensive conventional data centres; instead, it would focus on AI-focused initiatives.
Outlining how the State intends to shape the next phase of industrial growth in and around the State's capital city, the minister said the government would discourage large conventional facilities within the city. Delivering a talk at the Super Chennai Conclave, the minister said the government would discourage large conventional facilities within the city.
Drawing a clear line on data-centre policy, he said, "allocating prime industrial land for water and power-intensive, low-employment facilities was not the preferred approach. We are happy to say no to water-guzzling data centres.
If my friends in Andhra want such projects, they are welcome to go there, he added.
Instead, Tamil Nadu is prepared to support such infrastructure in peripheral locations, he said. The Minister indicated that future data-centre development would be steered towards the southern corridor of Chennai and industrial regions such as Sriperumbudur, where land is cheaper and infrastructure is better suited. The State would provide strong connectivity to operators choosing these locations, he said.
The Super Chennai Conclave's focus is on enabling the industries that will build tomorrow's Chennai. The government is betting heavily on Research and Development and is looking to expand not merely vertically but also horizontally, driven by wider industrial growth, alongside improvements in metro connectivity and reduced travel time across industrial clusters, the minister said.
Emphasising technology-led growth, TRB Rajaa said Artificial Intelligence would be a defining driver of the future industry, and the State would prefer AI-focused data centres, such as 20 MW or 30 MW facilities, over large conventional centres with heavy resource consumption.