CapitaLand Unveils Chennai 01, a ₹1,940-Crore Liquid-Cooled Data Centre Built for AI Workloads

Chennai is getting another AI-ready data centre. On 15 October, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay unveiled CapitaLand Data Centre Chennai 01 in Ambattur. The ₹1,940-crore facility is designed for high-density, liquid-cooled AI workloads, and is due to be completed with 53 MW of gross power capacity by the end of 2026.

The facility

According to CapitaLand Investment's press release and reports from Data Center Dynamics, DT Next, GKToday and Convergence, the data centre will offer 34 MW of IT power capacity across 13 data halls, backed by a dedicated 110 kV substation. It is the first Tamil Nadu data centre for CapitaLand India Trust (CLINT), the Singapore-listed trust, and is jointly held with the CapitaLand India Data Centre Fund. CapitaLand describes the facility as AI-ready and hyperscale-designed, with advanced liquid cooling and green building practices. It is targeting LEED Gold certification.

The wording varies by outlet. Some say the chief minister "inaugurated" the facility. CapitaLand's release says it was "unveiled", which is more accurate given that completion and tenant readiness are expected at the end of 2026. CapitaLand first signed agreements with the Tamil Nadu government in January 2024 for a data centre and technology park investment of over US$500 million, and construction of Chennai 01 began in 2025. The project has also slipped: construction coverage in 2025 said it would go live that year, and earlier figures put gross capacity at 54 MW.

At the event, CLINT chief executive Gowrishankar Nagabooshanam noted that the company's association with Tamil Nadu goes back nearly 22 years. CapitaLand said it intends to keep expanding its data-centre, logistics and industrial portfolio in the state through its listed and private funds.

Why liquid cooling and 110 kV matter

The specifications show how data-centre design is changing because of AI. Training and running large AI models takes racks of GPUs that draw far more power, and give off far more heat, than conventional servers. Air cooling struggles above certain rack densities, so operators are moving to liquid cooling, where coolant runs close to or directly over the chips. A dedicated 110 kV substation lets the site draw large amounts of power directly from the grid, which hyperscale and AI tenants increasingly require.

The ratio of 34 MW of IT load to 53 MW gross also shows the overhead needed for cooling and power conversion. That overhead is what liquid cooling and efficient design aim to reduce.

Chennai's data-centre moment

Chennai has become one of India's main data-centre hubs, alongside Mumbai. It has submarine cable landing stations, relatively reliable power and land, and a state government that actively seeks digital-infrastructure investment. CapitaLand's own presence in India includes a 108 MW data centre in Navi Mumbai that is fully leased to a hyperscaler, according to Convergence.

The Chennai unveiling came a week after another big AI-infrastructure announcement. Around 7 October, US GPU cloud provider CoreWeave said it would enter India through a 240 MW AdaniConneX campus at Taloja in Navi Mumbai, with the first phase expected in mid-2028. CoreWeave will be the only tenant across three 80 MW buildings, with an option for another 240 MW, and plans to run Nvidia Vera Rubin systems in halls with direct liquid cooling. AdaniConneX is a 50:50 joint venture between Adani Enterprises and data-centre operator EdgeConneX. CoreWeave also linked its entry to the IndiaAI Mission and plans an India office.

Together, the announcements point to a shift in Indian data-centre building from general cloud capacity to facilities designed for dense AI computing.

Tamil Nadu has been chasing high-technology investment on several fronts at once. This month alone, the state announced a semiconductor incentive scheme that adds state support on top of the central government's programme. Data centres fit the same strategy: they bring large capital spending, need skilled operations staff, and attract cloud and AI companies that want to be close to their infrastructure.

For a hyperscale tenant, a 13-hall layout also offers flexibility. Halls can be fitted out in stages as demand grows, with different cooling set-ups for conventional cloud servers and dense GPU clusters.

What it means for India's AI ambitions

India's AI plans depend on enough domestic compute. The IndiaAI Mission has subsidised GPU access for start-ups and researchers, and policymakers increasingly argue that sensitive data and critical AI workloads should run on Indian soil. That requires physical infrastructure: land, grid connections, cooling and buildings. These take years to deliver, and that is where much of the capital investment goes.

Projects like Chennai 01 are part of the answer, even if the owner is Singaporean. The capacity sits in India, under Indian data-protection law, and can serve domestic enterprises, government users and global cloud providers that need in-country capacity. They also bring practical questions. Each AI-ready campus adds tens of megawatts of steady demand to the regional grid, and liquid-cooled facilities need careful water and energy management. That is why green-building certification and renewable power deals are increasingly common in new projects.

What to watch

• Completion and tenants: whether Chennai 01 is ready by end-2026 as promised, and whether it signs a hyperscale or AI anchor tenant, as the Navi Mumbai facility did.
• Power sourcing: how much of the facility's demand is met through renewable power deals.
• More Tamil Nadu investment: CapitaLand has said it will expand further in the state, and the government is actively courting data-centre investors.

Sources

• https://www.capitaland.com/content/dam/capitaland-newsroom/International/2026/october/cli-affirms-long-term-commitment-to-tamil-nadu/CapitaLand%20Investment%20reaffirms%20long-term%20commitment%20to%20Tamil%20Nadu%20with%20unveiling%20of%20new%20Chennai%20data%20centre.pdf
• https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/capitaland-to-launch-53mw-data-center-in-chennai-india-before-the-end-of-the-year
• https://www.dtnext.in/news/tamilnadu/cm-vijay-inaugurates-rs-1940-cr-data-centre-in-ambattur
• https://www.gktoday.in/capitaland-india-trust-unveils-chennai-data-centre/
• https://www.convergence-now.com/artificial-intelligence/capitaland-unveils-chennai-01-data-centre-with-rs-1940-cr-investment/
• https://www.etvbharat.com/en/state/tamil-nadu-chief-ministerc-joseph-vijay-and-singapore-deputy-pm-inaugurate-capitaland-data-centre-chennai-01-enn26101507948
• https://w.media/?p=44452
• https://aifront-page.com/capitaland-chennai-data-centre-34mw-cm-vijay/
• https://coreweave.com/news/coreweave-enters-india-expanding-ai-cloud-platform-with-adaniconnex
• https://www.crnasia.com/india/news/2026/coreweave-brings-240-mw-ai-cloud-capacity-to-india-with-adaniconnex