AMBATTUR GETS A MAKEOVER

How the old manufacturing hub is morphing into a hotbed of data centres

- SHINE JACOB

Whether it is Mumbai's choked-up streets or a scenic rural village in the Northeast, for every Indian, Hercules cycles are part of their nostalgia. But not too many know that it was part of the first joint venture agreement to be signed in South India after Independence and one of the first foreign investments too.

By 1951, the JV resulted in the birth of the TI Cycle factory in a mango grove in Ambattur that came out with the first Hercules, and sowed the seeds of the Ambattur Industrial Estate later in 1964.

Come 2024, the clang of metals colliding and the scent of welding fire and chemicals greet visitors to the same Ambattur—a 45-minute drive from Chennai city.

Touted as South Asia's largest industrial estate for decades, it is spread over an area of 1,430 acres. For long, it was a manufacturing zone, with the majority of around 1,800 companies in the region specialising in automobile components.

But the times have changed, which is evident from the new high-rise commercial buildings. Ambattur is undergoing a makeover and is becoming one of the most sought-after hubs for data centre companies.

Huge attraction Data from Guidance Tamil Nadu indicates that as many as 12 data centre projects (including expansions) are either established or at various stages of implementation in Ambattur.

Not just that, Chennai is seeing a huge attraction from data centre companies, with Siruseri, around 50 km from Ambattur, also seeing around eight data centres.

"The proximity to submarine cable landings makes Ambattur one of the most sought-after locations for data centre players, in addition to stable and high-quality power supply," says V Vishnu, managing director and chief executive officer of Guidance Tamil Nadu, a state government agency that assists investors.

Submarine cables are high-capacity optic fibre pairs laid on the ocean floor to provide global connectivity for high-speed data exchange.