Hitachi Energy targets 30% of India’s booming data center spending

Hitachi Energy India is aiming for a far larger role in India’s data center boom, saying it wants 30% of total sector spending, up from an earlier target of 10% to 15%. The push rests on a “grid-to-rack” power model that stretches from transmission equipment to the server floor, a sign that the winners in artificial intelligence infrastructure may be as much power companies as chip suppliers.

That bet lands in a market that is still relatively small, but expanding quickly. IMARC Group valued India’s data center market at $5.55 billion in 2025 and projects it will reach $13.11 billion by 2034, a pace that reflects rising cloud adoption, digital transformation and heavier AI workloads. Hitachi Energy India said its broader data-center offering could capture an additional 10% to 15% of power infrastructure spending inside the segment, widening its addressable market beyond conventional electrical gear.

The company already has an important base in the country’s electricity system. It said it controls about half of India’s high-voltage direct current market, giving it leverage in the long-distance movement of bulk power. That matters because data centers are not just buildings filled with servers. They are power-intensive industrial assets that depend on transformers, substations, backup systems and reliable grid connections.

Hitachi Energy India has also backed the strategy with capital spending. The board approved an investment of 2,000 crore for a greenfield large power transformer facility in Karjan, Vadodara, Gujarat, part of a cumulative 4,000 crore outlay across 19 factories in eight manufacturing locations. The company reported a record order backlog of 29,555.3 crore as of March 31, 2026, up 53.5% year on year, giving it a deep pipeline as demand for grid equipment stays elevated.

The wider power market underlines why the timing is important. India’s peak power demand hit a record 270.82 GW on May 21, 2026, during a severe heatwave, a reminder that the grid is already under strain before the next wave of data center growth arrives. CBRE South Asia said India’s operational data center capacity reached about 1,530 MW as of September 2025, with Mumbai accounting for 53% of national capacity because of its links to global internet hubs and undersea cables.

Hitachi Energy and Adani Energy Solutions Ltd. commissioned an HVDC city-center infeed in Mumbai in April 2026 that can inject up to 1,000 MW and increase power supply from outside the city by 50%. For India’s data center industry, the race is increasingly about electricity equipment and grid access, not just servers and land.