Sridhar Vembu slams DMK, questions Tamil Nadu’s loss of major AI data centre project
Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu has criticised the DMK while discussing Tamil Nadu’s failure to secure a proposed ₹70,000-crore AI data centre investment that is now headed to Telangana.
Vembu argued that the political image created by the DMK’s opposition to Hindi, its criticism of the Centre and its rhetoric about North India could influence how investors from other parts of the country view Tamil Nadu.
His comments came after Tata Consultancy Services announced that its subsidiary, HyperVault AI Data Center Ltd, had acquired 264 acres in Hyderabad for a major data centre campus. The proposed facility is expected to have a capacity of up to 1 GW, with the overall investment potentially reaching ₹70,000 crore.
Tamil Nadu Industries Minister Dr TRB Rajaa had earlier questioned why the state had missed the opportunity. He compared the development with the earlier Google AI data centre project in Andhra Pradesh and argued that Telangana had secured the new project despite being a landlocked state.
Rajaa also highlighted Tamil Nadu’s existing advantages for data-centre investments, including subsea cable connections, renewable power availability, engineering expertise, an established data-centre ecosystem and a strong electronics manufacturing sector.
According to Rajaa, the proposed investment could exceed the combined value of 97 MoUs worth ₹67,542 crore announced at the Tamil Nadu government’s first major investment conclave.
The exchange between Vembu and Rajaa has brought renewed attention to the competition among Indian states to attract large technology and infrastructure investments.