India’s edge data centre capacity projected to triple to 200-210 MW by 2027

New Delhi, July 24 India’s edge data centre is projected to expand significantly to 200-210 megawatt (MW) by 2027 from 60-70 MW in 2024, marking a three times increase driven by proliferation of emerging technologies, a report said on Thursday.

The current edge data centre capacity as a percentage of total India’s data centre capacity stands at around 5 per cent, and it is estimated to go up to 8 per cent by 2027, ICRA said in its latest report.

Edge data centres are smaller, decentralised facilities located closer to end-users and devices and, unlike traditional data centres, which are typically large and centralised, they enable real-time data processing with minimal latency.

“Edge data centres differ from traditional data centres in multiple parameters like size, location, scale, time taken to construct, capex cost per MW, distance from end user, etc," said Anupama Reddy, Vice President and Co-Group Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA.

In the Indian context, traditional data centres and edge data centres are complementary pillars of digital infrastructure, Reddy added.

With the expanding cloud ecosystem in India, traditional data centres will continue to fuel mass-scale computing, artificial intelligence (AI), and cloud workloads, while edge data centres will facilitate real-time processing and localised services.

Traditional and edge data centres are expected to operate in a hub-and-spoke model to enhance efficiencies across sectors such as healthcare, banking, agriculture, Defence, and manufacturing.

Despite the promising outlook, some of the key challenges for edge data centres in India include security vulnerabilities due to remote deployments (majorly in tier 2 and tier 3 cities), the report stated.

Rapid technological changes that risk obsolescence, a shortage of skilled professionals in remote areas, and interoperability issues with traditional data centres.

According to the report, the US commands over 44 per cent of worldwide edge data centre capacity, followed by Europe, the Middle East and Africa region at 32 per cent and Asia Pacific (the APAC) region at 24 per cent.

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