Search
IDCNOVA

Colt DCS and RMZ Corp Plan 1.25GW Data Center Campus in Vizag, India

By: IDCNOVARegion: South Asia
Colt Data Centre Services (Colt DCS) is reportedly moving forward with plans to develop a massive data center campus in Visakhapatnam (also known as Vizag), India, through its existing joint venture with Indian real estate firm RMZ Corp. The project, which has received initial approval from the Andhra Pradesh government's State Investment Promotion Committee (SIPC) last week, marks a significant expansion of the partnership beyond its original scope.

The two companies aim to build a 1.25GW campus spread across 200 acres in Jagannadhapuram, Visakhapatnam, with the first phase potentially becoming operational by 2027. This gigawatt-scale development underscores the accelerating demand for digital infrastructure in India, particularly in emerging secondary markets that are gaining traction as major data center hubs reach capacity constraints.

The Vizag project builds on a $1.7 billion joint venture formed between RMZ Corp and Fidelity-owned Colt DCS in 2024. That partnership was initially focused on developing Colt's existing sites in Navi Mumbai and Ambattur, Chennai, with combined capacity of around 250MW at full build-out. The expansion into Visakhapatnam represents a substantial scaling of the partnership's ambitions, increasing the total pipeline by roughly five-fold.

RMZ Corp, a real estate developer specializing in eco-friendly buildings and office spaces, has been aggressively positioning itself in the data center sector since 2023, with potential developments planned across Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, and the National Capital Region. In June, the company signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government to invest up to $10 billion in mixed-use, digital, industrial, and logistics infrastructure projects across the state over the next five to six years, with the Vizag campus being a cornerstone of that commitment.

Colt DCS first announced its India expansion plans in March 2023 with a 10-building campus in Navi Mumbai, followed by a site in Chennai. The first two buildings in Mumbai are already live, delivering 22MW of capacity. Fidelity's backing provides significant financial firepower for the company's aggressive growth trajectory in one of the world's fastest-growing data center markets.

The Vizag development positions Colt DCS and RMZ Corp alongside other major players targeting the city, including Google, AdaniConneX, Tata, Digital Realty's Digital Connexion, and Sify. The entry of multiple hyperscale and enterprise-grade developers into Visakhapatnam reflects a broader trend of data center capacity expanding beyond traditional metros like Mumbai and Chennai into regional hubs, driven by data localization requirements, fiber connectivity improvements, and growing enterprise demand along India's eastern coast.

The gigawatt-scale ambition of this project also highlights the intensifying competition among developers to secure large land parcels and power allocations in India, where the data center market is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of over 25% through the decade. For Colt DCS, the Vizag campus represents a strategic bet on the long-term viability of secondary markets, a move that could reshape its competitive positioning in the region if successful.