Meta contemplates setting up its first data centre in India

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is considering setting up its first data centre in India to address the growing demand for its short video feature Reels, as per report.  

"Meta is evaluating deploying a small data centre. It could be a cache-focussed 10-20-megawatt data centre," a news source quoted a person familiar with the matter.

If the experts are to be believed, the social media giant may invest Rs 500-1,200 crore in the project as the average cost of setting up a Tier-4 data centre (highest quality with over 99.99% uptime) in India is around Rs 50-60 crore.

The experts said a local data centre in India is likely to help the social media giant deliver an improved user experience to consumers at a time when Meta is looking to introduce a series of generative artificial intelligence (AI) features on its products.

It is to be noted that in July 2020, Instagram Reels were introduced in India after TikTok was banned by the Indian Government and the Indian consumers were scrambling for an alternative to fill the void.

According to experts, a local data centre will help Meta to offer an improved user experience to Indian consumers.

The social media giant currently has 22 data centres spread across the globe. However, the company’s only data centre in the Asia Pacific region is situated in Singapore.