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Many countries are now showing interest to invest in the data center industry in Banglades especially in AI data centers. Countries like the UK, Japan, and South Korea are talking to different wings of the government. One of them, a UK group called AIDCQ, has proposed investing around two billion dollars.
The organization wants to build AI data centers in Kaliakoir, Sirajganj Economic Zone in Gazipur, or any economic zone in the country.
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AIDCQ says that if the AI data center is built, it will help the country lead in AI, create a Bengali Large Language Model (LLM), do AI research, and improve computing power. About 10,000 jobs will be created. More than 50,000 indirect jobs will create, and 60,000 families will be benefited directly.
ICT adviser Rehan Asif Asad said, “There have been discussions with various organizations around the world about AI data centers. It is very important to expand Bangladesh’s data center infrastructure in the next four to five years.”
He said, “The government’s goal is to build AI capabilities based on data centers, so that startups, data center operators, freelancers and innovators can create various applications and services based on it. This is a government initiative, through which the country’s innovation and technology-based service sector will be promoted by building AI-based public digital infrastructure.”
ICT Secretery Md. Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan said, ‘Discussions are underway with various countries regarding the establishment of AI data centers. Representatives of various countries, including Japan and South Korea are discussing various technical issues. However, no specific proposal has come to us officially so far. Discussions have started at the initial stage and a formal proposal may come in the future.’
UK-based company AIDCQ wants to invest $2 billion
UK-based company AIDCQ has proposed to build the country’s first ‘Frontier AI Data Center and Quantum-Ready Sovereign Compute Campus’ through foreign direct investment (FDI) of about $2 billion.
The company has submitted a strategic proposal seeking the government’s cooperation to build this infrastructure in the country’s economic zone. The proposal, signed by the company’s CEO and AI infrastructure architect SM Anisur Rahman, has been sent to Prime Minister Tarique Rahman.
These investments will come through a consortium of investors. Bangladeshi AI expert SM Anisur Rahman working in various institutions around the world, wants to bring these investments to the country in collaboration with various banks and investors around the world.
When asked about the investment, SM Anisur Rahman said, “Many people in Bangladesh are coming up with the idea of data centers, but they are mainly working for business purposes. Our approach is a little different. In addition to attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), we want to build a data center for Bangladesh that will help to establish the country as an ‘AI factory’.”
“We want to build this infrastructure in such a way that it becomes an economic foundation for Bangladesh, just like the garment industry,” he said.
Anisur said, “Any software, apps or AI-related activities should be conducted at this data center. Through this, it will be possible to build the local economy, develop skilled human resources and create a strong technology-based ecosystem. Our proposed investment in this project is about two billion US dollars. We want to invest these two billion dollars in Bangladesh.”
AIDCQ’s Project Director in Bangladesh, Engineer Mahfuzur Rahman and Project Communications Director Ashraful Islam Khan said, “We have submitted proposals to the Prime Minister’s Office and the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology and the Ministry. A proposal has been made to allocate space in the Sirajganj Economic Zone or Kaliakair Hi-Tech Park. In the meantime, we have visited Kaliakair Hi-Tech Park. We are continuing discussions at various levels of the government to build an AI data center.”
Plan to implement the project in three phases
According to the proposal, the project will be implemented in three phases. In the first phase (over the next 24 months), a 30-50 MW Frontier AI Data Center will be built. It will house high-performance AI computing infrastructure that will serve government agencies, private institutions, and international customers.
In the second phase (within 24 to 60 months), the capacity of the data center will be increased from 100 to 200 MW. The goal is to develop Bangladesh as a ‘regional AI compute hub’ in South Asia.
In the long term, the third phase will include ‘quantum ready infrastructure’ and a plan to build a national AI research and innovation ecosystem.
The proposal says that a lot of the country’s data and online services rely on foreign systems. If the new project starts, data can be kept in the country and spending foreign money will go down. Also, there will be a chance to make a Large Language Model (LLM) in Bengali that fits national needs. At the same time, data for about 180 million people can be kept under the country’s own laws.
The proposal says that if the project goes ahead, over 10,000 skilled jobs will be made in AI, engineering, and digital infrastructure. Also, there will be more than 50,000 indirect jobs in supply and service areas. It also states that more than 60,000 families will gain from this in the long run.
A plan has been suggested to create a 100 MW power plant that will supply constant power to the data center. It will grow in size later. Also, there are ideas to use renewable energy like solar power and to add more power to the national grid.
Several policy support has been sought from the government for the implementation of the project. Declaring the project as a ‘National Priority Investment Project’, expeditious approval and licensing of regulatory agencies, ensuring high-capacity power and water connections in the project area, providing multi-terabit submarine cable connections, and finalizing land allocation and ownership for the project in the economic zone of Bangladesh or other suitable places in the country.
Talking to the relevant responsible persons of the government, it is known that not only AIDCQ, but also Japan and South Korea are interested in investing in AI data centers in Bangladesh. However, they could not provide detailed information about the amount of their investment or about it.
AI data centers use a lot of clean water and have called for monitoring its environmental pollution, said Md. Sahab Uddin Riyad, Chief Sustainability Officer of Smart Build, an IT company working on AI.
He said, “The most important ingredient for AI data centers is clean water. A huge amount of clean water is required to operate these data centers. Even if a large AI data center is launched in any other country in the world today, it can have an impact on Bangladesh as a climate-vulnerable country. Therefore, we need to plan for water and energy management now, not 10 years later.”
He said, “If a large-scale AI data center is built in Bangladesh, it is important to plan in advance, keeping in mind the existing water and energy crisis. Otherwise, a major crisis may arise in the future.”
Recently ICT Secretary Md. Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan called on the data center stakeholder in ICT division to discuss what is actually going on in the data center industry.
Recently, ColoCity, InterCloud and two others local data center players have extended their branches in kaliakoir and Gulshan to tackle customer demand.
The race to build AI infrastructure around the world is growing fast. As AI spreads, many are investing in building AI data centers globally. Right now, over a hundred big and medium-sized AI data centers are being built or expanded in the US, UK, Europe, the Middle East (UAE, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia), and Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, and India).
CoLoCity Launches New 1.0 MW Data Center Facility at Gulshan
