Agnikul signs Rs 510 Cr deal with Andhra Pradesh for a Tirupati unit to build orbital data centre modules and rocket hardware

Agnikul Cosmos, the Chennai startup that builds the Agnibaan small satellite launcher, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh government on Friday, 13 November, to set up an orbital platforms and rocket manufacturing facility at the state's Space City in Tirupati district. The agreement was signed at the CII Partnership Summit 2026 and involves an initial investment of Rs 510 crore, Business Standard and BusinessLine reported. Moneycontrol, listing the day's state deals, said the project is expected to employ 350 people.

The new unit is mainly about computing in space. Agnikul holds patented technology that lets the extendable upper stage of its rocket double as a satellite bus that can host a data centre, so the stage keeps working after it delivers its payload instead of being discarded. Business Standard reported that the Tirupati facility is meant to be a place where semiconductor companies bring their GPU stacks so they can be integrated with that upper stage. Cofounder and CEO Srinath Ravichandran told the paper the aim is "a facility to build orbital data centre units so that the upper stage of our rocket can extend to be its own data centre platform", and said it would be the first such facility in Asia.

Agnikul already has a first customer. Under an agreement with Bengaluru based NeevCloud, it will launch an orbital AI data centre module developed on NeevCloud's AI SuperCloud platform. The Times of India reported that the orbital data centre payloads are expected to fly from Sriharikota, about 110 km from the Space City, and that the Andhra unit will also support equatorial and low inclination launches, which suit east bound communication satellites.

The move drew questions in Tamil Nadu about whether the company was leaving its home state. Agnikul said in a statement quoted by the Times of India that the Andhra facility would "directly complement" its work in Tamil Nadu, where its sites will support launches to polar orbits. The company has a 350 acre rocket manufacturing and testing facility near Kulasekarapattinam and opened two new units at its Chennai assembly and testing facility in September. Ravichandran told Business Standard its next launch, showcasing the reusable launch vehicle and upper stage technology, is expected in the first half of next year.

Agnikul is not alone in the state. BusinessLine reported that Astrobase (at Anantapur) and SpaceFields, EtherealX and Skyroot Aerospace (at Tirupati) also announced plans to set up operations in Andhra Pradesh. In orbital computing, Business Standard noted that Pixxel announced a partnership with Sarvam in May to build an orbital data centre satellite, and Hyderabad's TakeMe2Space plans a networked orbital data centre mission in 2028.