Will heatwave stop India’s AI revolution? Will there be a break on the billion dollar plan?

While India is racing to attract billions of dollars of investment in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud computing and digital infrastructure, a new global assessment has warned that the risk of climate-related disasters on the country's new and modern data centers could increase rapidly. According to a report released on Wednesday by 'XDI' (Cross Dependency Initiative), a consultancy firm that assesses climate risks, till now the world's attention has mainly focused on the huge energy and water needs of data centres. But physical climate risks, such as damage to infrastructure due to extreme heat and extreme weather, are emerging as a serious challenge for the sector. In this report titled '2026 Global Analysis of Planned Data Centers for Physical Climate Risk and Resilience', 2,595 proposed data centers to be built around the world have been analyzed. The main objective of this study is to accurately assess the major threats to these data centers arising from direct damage caused by climate change, disruptions to their operations due to extreme heat and disruption of external infrastructure such as electricity, water and transportation networks.

For India, these results raise new questions about the long-term sustainability of the country's rapidly growing digital infrastructure ecosystem. According to an analysis, India ranks 11th worldwide in terms of climate risk for planned data centres. What is even more surprising is that many major technology and investment hubs of India, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Karnataka are among the top 30 in the world. Areas that are at the highest estimated risk of business disruption due to extreme heat. The warning comes at a time when India is establishing itself as a major destination for data center investment due to the need for AI computing, cloud services and data localization. “Much of the debate has focused on energy demand and water consumption,” said Dr. Carl Mallon, Founder and Head of Science and Technology at Will be able to remain financially strong. 

This report points to a larger global trend. Currently, South Asia, South-East Asia and East Asia have the highest proportion of data centers that are at significant climate risk. In South Asia, 12% of proposed centers are already considered high risk under current conditions; And by the end of the century, this risk is estimated to more than triple under high emissions scenarios. Heat seems to be one of the biggest concerns. Countries like India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia and Spain are at the highest risk of business disruptions due to extreme temperatures. According to XDI, more than 75% of the facilities assessed in these countries fall into the high-risk category for heat-related disruptions. Additionally, this risk will increase as global temperatures rise. There is a possibility of increase. Floods or hurricanes can cause physical damage to infrastructure, but conversely, prolonged exposure to extreme heat can reduce equipment efficiency, increase cooling costs, strain power supplies, and increase the risk of service disruptions.