HCL to invest $60M in Lucknow campus as UP targets 50 AI startups
What's the deal? HCL GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → will invest US$67.9M in the second phase of its IT City campus in Lucknow, adding nearly 9.5 lakh sq ft of capacity. The expansion, spread across about 20 acres, will include a new IT building with around 5,000-seat capacity, a multilevel car park, and other facilities.
Why now? The announcement coincided with HCLTechDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → marking the 10th anniversary of its Lucknow operations, attended by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and HCLTech chairperson Roshni Nadar Malhotra.
What's the endgame? Uttar Pradesh wants to develop Lucknow beyond IT services into one of India's leading AI innovation centres. Adityanath said the government aims to develop at least 50 AI startups in the city over the next five years, supporting them in scaling and accessing global markets. The project is expected to create around 6,000 direct and indirect jobs.
The local bet: HCLTech, which began operations in Lucknow in 2016, now employs more than 12,500 people there and serves over 150 global enterprises. It will train 1,000 Uttar Pradesh students in AI during FY27 through its LITMUS programme and has launched the HCL-GUVI Emerging Technology CentreDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → at its Lucknow campus.
Across its Noida and Lucknow campuses, the company employs more than 50,000 people. Nearly 23% of HCLTech's global workforce operates from Uttar Pradesh, and around 75% of its employees in the state are local hires.
What Nadar Malhotra said: HCL's decision to invest a decade ago rested on the belief that global technology and talent could develop beyond India's traditional metros. "Uttar Pradesh is our karmabhoomi and our home," she said, adding that the Phase-2 expansion reflected confidence in the state's talent and economic potential.
The signal: Uttar Pradesh is pushing to diversify its technology economy beyond Noida into AI, electronics, semiconductors, and global capability centres. Adityanath said the state's IT and IT-enabled services exports had grown from around US$1.63B-US$2.04B a decade ago to more than US$13.6B, with a target of US$34B over the next four years.
Read more: government.economictimes.indiatimes.com
