Cooling down without draining out : Why water certainty is becoming critical infrastructure for AI data centres
By Hari Prasad, Managing Director, India, Gradian
India’s data-centre build-out is accelerating, with 1,789 MW of operational capacity across its top seven markets in H1 2026 and another 3,860 MW in the pipeline through 2030. AI is further driving this growth. AI workloads now directly account for nearly 20% of total leading demand, and AI-related colocation surged to 348 MW in 2025, more than doubling.
This growth is changing what data centres require from their surroundings. While power has long dominated conversations around capacity and site selection, cooling is becoming equally critical, bringing water certainty into focus.
We have seen this firsthand in India’s semiconductor sector. At a leading U.S. chipmaker’s new fab in one of the country’s most water-stressed regions, freshwater was limited, and a zero liquid discharge mandate was applied from day one. Rather than treating water as a utility connection, the plant’s ultrapure water production, wastewater recycling...
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