Apple supplier Jabil and India's Adani Enterprises have signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding setting out the framework for a proposed 50:50 joint venture to manufacture and assemble AI and data centre equipment in India, the companies announced on Tuesday, October 13.
The venture will produce AI racks, servers, storage and networking equipment designed to house high-performance computing systems for AI applications and digital services.
It will also make the gear that powers and cools those systems, including power distribution units, liquid-cooling systems and transformers.
From algorithms to infrastructure
Gautam Adani, chairman of the Adani Group, said the tie-up takes the group beyond powering and hosting AI infrastructure into manufacturing the critical systems advanced computing runs on.
"Our proposed joint venture with Jabil marks a strategic step towards this future," he said, adding that it combines Jabil's world-class engineering and manufacturing capabilities with Adani's strengths in energy, infrastructure and data centres.
Jabil chief executive Mike Dastoor said integrating the US firm's engineering and manufacturing expertise with Adani's infrastructure and energy capabilities would bring rack-level data centre solutions to more hyperscalers in India and around the world.
The venture is expected to have multi-gigawatt AI rack manufacturing capacity — enough to support computing systems with a combined power capacity of several gigawatts — and will also offer installation and commissioning services, the companies said.
Subject to final agreements
The MoU only sets the framework. Adani Enterprises clarified that the proposed venture remains subject to definitive agreements, regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
The pact formalizes a June 2026 announcement in which the two companies said they intended to explore a strategic alliance to build an AI and data centre infrastructure manufacturing ecosystem in India.
Investors welcomed the news: shares of Adani Enterprises closed at Rs 2,694 on the BSE on Tuesday, up Rs 63 on the day.
A multi-gigawatt bet on India's AI future
The timing lines up with India's accelerating AI buildout. India's data centre capacity is projected to reach between 5 and 8 gigawatts by 2030, and the Adani Group has committed $100 billion to develop 5 GW of green-energy-powered, hyperscale AI-ready data centres by 2035.
Jabil, which makes components for Apple, expects fiscal 2027 revenue of $44.5 billion — a measure of the manufacturing scale the US firm brings to the partnership.
If completed, the venture would give India a domestic source of the racks and power systems the global AI race runs on — and put the country one step closer to supplying the physical backbone of the intelligence economy.
By Hamza Faisal
