A Bangladeshi born industrialist, Robin Khuda, is set to invest $30 billion in data center projects in India. As part of this initiative, he met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last Friday.
It has been announced that AirTrunk, a Blackstone backed data center company, plans to invest more than $30 billion in India by 2030. The initiative aims to build more than five gigawatts of data center capacity and is being viewed as one of the largest steps toward strengthening India’s artificial intelligence infrastructure. Robin Khuda has already gained widespread recognition through his rapid rise in the global technology market.
Robin Khuda was born and raised in Dhaka.
He studied at Sher e Bangla Nagar Government Boys’ School in the capital. In 1997, at the age of 18, he moved to Australia. There, he studied accounting at the University of Technology Sydney. He later earned an MBA from Manchester Business School and obtained professional accounting qualifications.
He is now one of Australia’s wealthiest individuals. According to Forbes, his net worth exceeds $2 billion.
Through this massive investment in India, Robin aims to support the growing demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing in the world’s most populous country. AirTrunk announced the investment shortly after Robin’s meeting with Modi. The company plans to build five gigawatts of data center capacity across India.
Commenting on the investment, Modi wrote on the social media platform X, “Investments like these will further strengthen India’s position as a global hub for cloud computing and artificial intelligence technologies. They will also create new employment opportunities, strengthen domestic supply chains and accelerate innovation driven economic growth.”
The largest portion of the $30 billion investment will be made in Maharashtra. State Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said AirTrunk will develop three gigawatts of data center capacity in Maharashtra. As part of the project, AirTrunk has also signed an agreement to acquire land in Raigad near Mumbai.
Speaking to Forbes Asia about the investment, Robin Khuda said, “India is one of the few markets in the world with the scale of future demand necessary to match our ambitious plans and long term goals.”
Robin Khuda, who was named Business Person of the Year in 2023, is a self made billionaire. He accumulated most of his wealth through the data center construction business. Supported by Blackstone and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, the proposed investment is being considered one of the largest digital infrastructure initiatives in India’s history. Other major investments in India’s data center sector include the Adani Group’s $100 billion plan to build renewable energy powered data centers.
AirTrunk said its project will span multiple Indian states and union territories and help meet the growing demand for cloud computing and artificial intelligence services. The company entered the Indian market in April 2026 through the acquisition of Lumina CloudInfra. That deal provided AirTrunk with development projects totaling 600 megawatts in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad.
His journey in the technology sector was unlike that of many conventional tech billionaires. He worked at various technology, telecommunications and cloud based companies, including Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand. Later, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Pipe Networks, where he played a key role in strategic planning and merger activities. He subsequently joined the data center company NextDC.
Robin Khuda founded AirTrunk in 2015. In the early stages, he faced numerous challenges in securing financing and even invested his personal savings into the business. In 2017, the company launched major data center campuses in Sydney and Melbourne. In 2024, a consortium led by Blackstone acquired AirTrunk in a $24 billion deal. However, Khuda remained in his role as founder and chief executive officer.
Today, AirTrunk describes itself as a hyperscale data center platform operating across the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East. The company has operations in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. According to AirTrunk, India’s vast market, skilled workforce and supportive government policies have made the country an attractive destination for data center investment. The company cited India’s Digital India, India AI Mission and India Semiconductor Mission initiatives as key foundations for its long term investment strategy.
According to Robin Khuda, global investment can shift rapidly, and countries capable of providing policy certainty, coordination and fast decision making will gain the greatest advantage from the next wave of AI infrastructure investment. In his view, India is moving in that direction.
Following AirTrunk’s announcement of the $30 billion investment, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the progress of the country’s digital infrastructure sector in a post on X.
