Amazon.com (AMZN) is back under scrutiny in India after new reporting published on October 9 highlighted local opposition to its planned data center campus in Thane, outside Mumbai. Residents near the roughly 22-hectare site in Balkum and Majiwada say the facility will bring noise, emissions and pressure on local resources.
Amazon’s answer hasn’t changed. The company says the Thane site will not use water for cooling and will not draw power from the network that serves nearby homes and shops. (This is an existing project, not a new investment.)
What Thane Residents Are Fighting
- Water: Residents fear the campus will strain a city already short on supply. Amazon says the site won’t use water for cooling.
- Power: Residents estimate the campus will need about 422 MW. Amazon says it won’t draw from the network serving nearby homes and shops.
- Noise and emissions: The plan includes roughly 190 diesel backup generators, with five schools and three hospitals within a kilometer.
- Politics: Thane MP Naresh Mhaske demanded a stay on construction on July 7, and the city has said it will forward residents’ concerns to the state government.
Putting AWS’s Maharashtra Investment in Context
Amazon’s capital expenditure rose from $52.73 billion in 2023 to $83.00 billion in 2024 and $131.82 billion in 2025. Over the last twelve months, it reached $173.03 billion.
AWS announced an $8.3 billion Maharashtra investment plan in January 2025 as part of its earlier $12.7 billion India commitment. Amazon has since expanded its planned India cloud and AI investment to more than $21 billion for 2026–2030.
For scale, the entire $8.3 billion Maharashtra commitment equals about 4.8% of Amazon’s $173.03 billion in LTM capital expenditure. This compares a multiyear regional investment commitment with one year of companywide capex; it does not establish Thane’s project cost or annual spending.
Where a Delay Would Hurt AWS
Delays are a different matter. AWS revenue reached $42.23 billion in Q2 2026, up 37% from $30.87 billion a year earlier. Growth has sped up in each of the last three quarters, from 20% in Q3 2025, and the second quarter alone added $4.64 billion of revenue over the first.
When demand runs ahead of capacity, a data center that opens late means revenue pushed back. AWS opened its first Indian region in Mumbai in 2016. A delay at Thane could constrain local capacity expansion, although the cited disclosures do not quantify the campus’s contribution to AWS growth.
What Thane Means for Alphabet and Microsoft
Thane isn’t the only flashpoint. Alphabet (GOOGL) has the closest exposure: its $15 billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam, built with Adani, faces organized protests over water and power, among India’s first alongside Thane.
Microsoft (MSFT) announced a $17.5 billion investment for 2026–2029 covering cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling and ongoing operations, building on an earlier $3 billion commitment.
Thane is a test of whether India’s hyperscale buildout keeps its local license. Additional conditions could raise costs or delay Thane’s development. A construction stay could also encourage opponents of other projects, including Google’s Visakhapatnam hub, where environmentalists are already protesting the development.
Want to see how Amazon’s capex and AWS growth have moved over a longer stretch? Pull up the same charts on TIKR for free and check them against the next quarter’s numbers. Learn more here.
So what is Amazon stock actually worth?
TIKR lets you forecast the future price of any stock in less than a minute. Just enter a few assumptions into TIKR’s valuation model and see what AMZN stock could be worth. Start from Wall Street consensus estimates, or adjust the inputs to reflect your own view of the business. It’s free to use.
Value Amazon.com, Inc. for free→
Disclaimer:
Please note that the articles on TIKR are not intended to serve as investment or financial advice from TIKR or our content team, nor are they recommendations to buy or sell any stocks. We create our content based on TIKR Terminal’s investment data and analysts’ estimates. Our analysis might not include recent company news or important updates. TIKR has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Thank you for reading, and happy investing!
