India's AI data-center buildout lifts power, real estate, and cable stocks by $48B in six months. Capacity set to double by 2028; June earnings will show data-center revenue.
A group of Indian technology and infrastructure companies added roughly $48 billion in combined market value over the past six months. The gains came from demand for data-center construction and cloud services tied to artificial intelligence, lifting stocks beyond the usual software exporters. Power utilities, real estate developers that hold data-center land banks, and cable manufacturers have rallied.
Tata Power, building data-center capacity in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, gained about 40% in that period. Sterlite Technologies, a fiber-optic cable maker, rose more than 60%. Real estate firms DLF and Brigade Enterprises saw double-digit gains. The moves price AI exposure through the companies that build and power the facilities, not just those that run the models.
India's data-center capacity is expected to more than double by 2028, according to industry estimates cited by local brokerages. The government's production-linked incentive scheme for electronics manufacturing and a push for local server assembly have added to the thesis. Foreign investors have taken notice. Blackstone and Brookfield both announced data-center investments in India over the past year.
The $48 billion figure covers roughly 15 stocks across power, real estate, telecom infrastructure, and construction. Their combined market cap crossed $200 billion in late March, up from about $152 billion in October. Not every stock moved straight up. Some real estate names pulled back in February on profit-taking, then recovered in March as institutional flows resumed.
The buildout cycle will be tested by whether capacity gets built ahead of actual AI workload demand, a pattern that has played out in other markets. Data-center power demand in India is growing at 15-20% annually, according to grid operator data, supporting the case for power utilities and transmission companies. Order books remain full. The June quarter earnings will be the first time companies report data-center-related revenue as a separate line item.
Among stocks tracked by AlphaScala, Infosys scores 57 (Moderate) on cloud migration exposure that often precedes data-center buildouts. Wipro rates 46 (Mixed), with a narrower infrastructure angle. HDFC Bank, as a lender to some of the real estate developers in the space, sits at 39 (Mixed).
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