Uttar Pradesh Cabinet has approved the AI-Ready Data Center Policy 2026 to turn the state into a major hub for green and AI-ready data centres.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath chaired the cabinet meeting that cleared the new policy. It replaces the earlier Data Center Policy of 2021, which expired in January this year. The policy sets a target of attracting more than Rs 2 lakh crore in investments and adding 2 gigawatts of data centre capacity across the state.
The new framework focuses on building modern infrastructure suited for artificial intelligence workloads. It gives priority to GPU-based systems, energy-efficient designs and sustainable operations. The policy offers special incentives for Tier III and Tier IV data centres. It also provides an AI Compute Booster and extra benefits for projects coming up in the Bundelkhand and Purvanchal regions.
IT and Electronics Minister Sunil Sharma said the policy places special emphasis on GPU-based infrastructure, energy-efficient facilities and sustainable operations. He added that Uttar Pradesh has already made progress under the previous policy with seven operational projects.
The government expects the policy to create a world-class data centre ecosystem. It aims to attract IT and IT-enabled services companies and support the growing demand for AI infrastructure. Officials project that the new capacity will generate around 7,500 long-term direct jobs and nearly 50,000 short-term jobs during the construction phase.
Under the earlier policy, the state had approved six data centre parks and two standalone units. These projects brought in investments of about Rs 21,343 crore. Seven of them are now operational.
The policy forms part of Uttar Pradesh’s broader push to strengthen its digital and technology infrastructure. The state has been working to attract investments in semiconductors, data centres and artificial intelligence. It wants to position itself as a key player in India’s growing digital economy and meet the rising global demand for AI-ready computing facilities.
