AirTrunk Expands into India with Lumina CloudInfra Acquisition

A major strategic consolidation within the Blackstone portfolio has created a new powerhouse in Asia-Pacific digital infrastructure. AirTrunk, the region’s largest independent data centre operator, is entering the Indian market by acquiring Lumina CloudInfra, a developer focused exclusively on India. This internal transaction provides AirTrunk with an immediate and substantial foothold in one of the world’s most dynamic markets for hyperscale and AI infrastructure.

The deal’s structure is notable, as both companies are owned by the global investment giant. Blackstone launched Lumina in 2022 as a dedicated platform for India, seeding it with significant capital and industry expertise. It then acquired AirTrunk in a landmark A$24 billion transaction in late 2024. This move effectively folds Lumina’s operations into the broader AirTrunk platform, bypassing the need for a third-party acquisition and consolidating Blackstone’s data centre assets under a single, formidable operator.

For AirTrunk, the acquisition delivers immediate scale in India. It gains access to Lumina’s entire development pipeline, customer contracts, and operational team, which includes approximately 600 megawatts of planned capacity across major Indian cities. This pipeline, concentrated in markets like Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Delhi, and Hyderabad, represents a development potential valued at up to $5 billion. The transaction equips AirTrunk with land positions, local relationships, and management experience from day one.

Following the integration, AirTrunk will operate across six key Asia-Pacific markets: Australia, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and now India. Its combined portfolio will boast over 3 gigawatts of operating and planned capacity spread across 20 campuses, significantly enhancing its service offering for global cloud providers.

Leadership from both companies highlighted the strategic logic. Lumina’s co-founder and CEO, Sujeet Deshpande, described the union as a powerful blend of “local strength with global platforms.” AirTrunk’s founder and CEO, Robin Khuda, emphasized India’s critical importance as a growth market, stating the move positions the company to deliver the necessary scale, speed, and performance for customers expanding across the region.

Blackstone’s perspective underscores a long-term conviction in digital infrastructure. Peng Wei Tan, a Senior Managing Director in Blackstone Real Estate, noted the firm’s position as the world’s largest data centre investor and its focus on meeting soaring demand in high-growth economies like India. This consolidation moves beyond a financial transfer, integrating Lumina’s Indian assets into AirTrunk’s global network. This gives those investments access to AirTrunk’s hyperscale customer base, its international design standards, and the full weight of Blackstone’s capital.

The move reflects intense international interest in India’s data centre sector, driven by rapid expansion from cloud giants like AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Blackstone had previously committed roughly $11 billion to Indian data centres, primarily through Lumina. This internal merger streamlines that ambitious strategy, creating a unified platform better equipped to capture the market’s substantial growth.