After TCS, now HCLTech is also embarking on a sovereign AI infrastructure push with plans to establish its first AI data centre at the upcoming Odisha Sovereign AI Park in partnership with foundational AI startup Sarvam AI and the Odisha government.
The project will involve a planned capital outlay of ₹14,257 crore, including financial assistance from the state government.
HCLTech said the facility will combine its full-stack AI capabilities with Sarvam's foundation models to develop sector-specific AI applications for public and private sector organisations while supporting the government’s data sovereignty requirements.
The companies said the data centre will also support multilingual AI services and expand India's local AI developer ecosystem.
“HCLTech has been a flagbearer of India's technology industry. In line with the Digital India and Atmanirbhar Bharat vision of Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi, we strive to be an enabler of India's sovereign AI ecosystem with differentiated offerings across the value chain through focused investments and partnerships,” Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Chairperson of HCLTech, said in a statement.
C Vijayakumar, CEO and Managing Director of HCLTech, said the project marks an important step in the company's full-stack AI strategy.
“This is an important milestone in our full-stack AI play and will enable us to serve the large demand for sovereign AI solutions and unlock the scale of our strategic partnership with Sarvam. Odisha offers a progressive policy environment backed by infrastructure, and we look forward to working with them in collaboration with Sarvam,” he said.
Pratyush Kumar, Co-founder of Sarvam, said the project will bring together compute infrastructure, Indian AI models, and enterprise applications.
“The Odisha Sovereign AI Park will connect high-performance compute with Indian models and real-world applications. Together with HCLTech, we are excited to bring Sarvam's full-stack AI capabilities to enterprises and public systems at scale,” Kumar said.
The announcement comes weeks after HCLTech said it would enter the full-stack AI market.
Global Technology Centre in Bhubaneswar
HCLTech has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Odisha government to establish a global technology centre in Bhubaneswar, expanding its footprint in eastern India as it continues to invest in AI-led digital services.
The facility, which is expected to begin operations by 2028, will employ 5,000 people. It will work alongside HCLTech’s proposed AI Data Centre in the upcoming Odisha Sovereign AI Park, announced earlier this month.
According to the company, the new centre will develop and deliver AI-led digital solutions for global enterprises. HCLTech said the investment will generate direct and indirect employment while strengthening Odisha's technology talent pipeline through collaborations with educational institutions and the state government.
HCLTech currently employs more than 170,000 people in India across campuses and technology centres in Noida, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow, Nagpur, Madurai, Vijayawada, and GIFT City.
- AI Productivity to Add $28 Billion to $84 Billion to India's GDP: Cognizant Study
- OpenAI's Codex Helps in Aerodynamic Engineering for Mazda
- Bengaluru Accounts for 34% of India's FDE Talent: Report
- 84% See AI Productivity Gains, but Only 10% Allow Agent Autonomy: TCS Study
- Snowflake Introduces Business Ontology, Cortex AI Gateway to Bring AI Agents Into Enterprise Workflows
- Three Members Behind Claude Code Leave Anthropic Within 10 Days