Indian diversified real estate and investment firm RMZ plans to scale its data centre capacity to 2-3 gigawatts over the next five years as ​part of a $35 billion investment push, a senior company executive said.

The Bengaluru-headquartered company, which currently has 250 megawatts of capacity, is in the final stages of discussions for three data centre projects that would take its total capacity to more than 1 gigawatt, Deepak Chhabria, president of RMZ Infrastructure, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

The firm also plans to acquire land by year-end that ⁠could support 2 gigawatts of data centre capacity, he added.

In April, RMZ announced ​plans to invest more than $35 billion over the next five years to build co-location ​data centres and AI factories, as well as a potential initial public offering.

Global technology firms and Indian conglomerates have pledged billions of dollars toward AI infrastructure and data centres, making India one ​of the most fiercely contested markets for computing capacity. The country’s digital infrastructure ​sector is expected to attract more than $50 billion in planned spending across data centres, cloud and AI ‌ecosystems.

“We ⁠are seeing only positive signs from some of the hyperscalers, and I think by the middle of this year, we will start ramping up capacity as we get clients signed up,” Chhabria said, without naming customers.

The company, which operates across major ​Indian cities, including ​Bengaluru, Mumbai and ⁠Hyderabad, sees its data centre expansion as an entry into allied businesses such as graphics processing units (GPUs), power infrastructure and ​software, Chhabria said.

“Now we will use that as a stepping stone ​eventually ⁠to go up the food chain and build the bottom layer of power,” he said, referring to the company’s plans to expand deeper into the infrastructure that supports AI ⁠and ​cloud computing.

RMZ built its existing 250-megawatt capacity through ​a joint venture with UK-based Colt Data Centre Services, and the two companies are exploring growth opportunities, ​Chhabria said.