After Cutting 8,000 Jobs, Meta Builds First AI Data Centre In India With Ambani's Reliance

Weeks after cutting 8,000 jobs to fund its artificial intelligence ambitions, Meta Platforms is planting its first AI data centre in India. It's a 168-megawatt facility to be built by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries at the conglomerate's sprawling industrial campus in Jamnagar, Gujarat.

The partnership, announced on 10 June, deepens a relationship that stretches back to 2020, when Meta invested $5.7 billion (£4.5 billion) in Reliance's telecom arm Jio Platforms, CNBC reported. Reliance will design, construct, and deliver the facility within two years, with an option to expand. Meta will bear the full cost of energy and water, drawing on renewable sources and desalinated seawater for cooling.

'We're proud to be working with Reliance to build our first AI-enabled data center in India,' Mark Zuckerberg said. 'This world-class facility in Jamnagar will help us scale our AI infrastructure globally while deepening our long-term investment in India's economy.'

Ambani, chairman of Reliance, called it a 'transformative moment for India's digital infrastructure.' Jamnagar already houses one of the company's largest refining and petrochemical operations, and Reliance is developing the site into one of the world's largest data centre campuses.

Meta's AI Bet: Billions Abroad, Job Cuts at Home

The Jamnagar deal is one piece of a much larger financial picture. Meta raised its 2026 capital expenditure guidance in April to between $125 billion and $145 billion (£99 billion to £115 billion), up from an initial range of $115 billion to $135 billion (£91 billion to £107 billion). That is nearly double what the company spent last year. First-quarter revenue came in at $56.3 billion (£44.6 billion), up 33% year-on-year, yet the stock still fell more than 6% in after-hours trading when the spending hike was disclosed.

Those costs are being offset, at least in part, by deep workforce reductions. The May layoffs slashed about 10% of Meta's headcount. It was the company's fourth wave of cuts this year, following earlier rounds targeting Reality Labs, recruiting, and sales. A further 6,000 open roles were scrapped entirely.

Chief financial officer Susan Li told analysts during the first-quarter earnings call that Meta's 'experience so far has been that we have continued to underestimate our compute needs even as we have been ramping capacity significantly.'

Sources familiar with the company's internal planning told CNBC that more layoffs could come as early as August, with another potential round expected in the autumn.

Zuckerberg pushed back on that narrative in a memo to staff on 20 May, writing that executives 'do not expect other companywide layoffs this year.' The wording left room for targeted cuts. About 7,000 employees have already been moved into AI-focused roles, and data from the anonymous professional network Blind showed Meta's internal culture rating had fallen 39% from its 2024 peak.

India's $400 Billion AI Infrastructure Rush

Meta is entering a market that has become a magnet for global tech investment. Hyperscalers poured roughly $400 billion (£317 billion) into India's AI ecosystem over the past year, according to CNBC, with the bulk directed at data centres and the energy infrastructure needed to power them.

Google broke ground on a $15 billion (£11.9 billion) AI hub in Visakhapatnam in April. Microsoft has pledged $17.5 billion (£13.9 billion) over four years. Amazon has committed $35 billion (£27.7 billion) by 2030. New Delhi sweetened the pitch earlier this year with a 20-year tax exemption for hyperscalers that service global clients from Indian facilities.

Separately, Meta contracted nearly 1 gigawatt of clean energy in India alongside the data centre agreement. CleanMax will supply 837 MW of solar power to support the Jamnagar site and future operations.

The facility will underpin Meta's core products — Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — alongside its growing AI compute requirements.

Last year, Meta and Reliance launched a $100 million (£79 million) joint venture to build enterprise AI tools using Meta's open-source Llama models for Indian businesses, TechCrunch noted. The Jamnagar data centre gives that venture its first dedicated physical infrastructure in the country.

Nomura analysts wrote in a 2 June report that India's data centre capacity could reach 7 gigawatts by 2030, noting the market remains cost-efficient relative to other developed Asia Pacific and Western economies.