New Delhi/Dhaka, June 9, 2026: Bangladesh-born Australian entrepreneur and founder of AirTrunk, Robin Khuda, has announced plans to invest $30 billion (approximately Tk 4 lakh crore) in India’s data center sector by 2030, underscoring India’s emergence as a major global hub for artificial intelligence and cloud computing infrastructure.
Khuda met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on June 5, after which AirTrunk unveiled plans to develop up to five gigawatts of data center capacity across India. The largest share of the investment—around three gigawatts—will be concentrated in Maharashtra, where the company has already signed an agreement to acquire land in Mumbai’s Raigad district.
Prime Minister Modi welcomed the investment, saying it would strengthen India’s position as a global center for cloud computing and AI technologies while creating jobs, boosting domestic supply chains and accelerating innovation-driven economic growth.
Born and raised in Dhaka, Robin Khuda studied at Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Government Boys’ School before moving to Australia at the age of 18. He founded AirTrunk in 2015 and has since expanded the company across Australia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and now India. According to Forbes, Khuda’s personal wealth exceeds $2 billion.
Speaking to Forbes Asia, Khuda said India offers one of the few markets capable of supporting AirTrunk’s long-term ambitions.
“India is among the handful of markets in the world with the scale of future demand that aligns with our growth plans,” he said, citing the country’s population, digital adoption and artificial intelligence aspirations as a unique combination.
The announcement has also prompted discussion in Bangladesh, where many have questioned why a Bangladesh-born entrepreneur is committing such a massive investment to India instead of his country of birth.
Industry analysts say the answer lies primarily in economics and infrastructure rather than nationality. India already possesses large-scale power capacity, extensive international connectivity, mature data center ecosystems and strong demand from global cloud providers. In contrast, Bangladesh remains an emerging market for digital infrastructure, with a smaller cloud ecosystem and fewer hyperscale data center facilities.
Experts note that Bangladesh has made significant strides in digital transformation and could attract major investments in the future if improvements continue in energy reliability, international connectivity and policy incentives.
For now, AirTrunk’s decision highlights the widening competition among South Asian nations to secure investments in the rapidly expanding AI and cloud computing sectors, where infrastructure readiness and market scale have become decisive factors.
