Submer appoints Anupam Shrivastava to steer green AI push

Submer has appointed former Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava as Principal Advisor for Government & Green AI Initiatives in India, as it steps up policy engagement on energy use and cooling for new AI datacentres.

Shrivastava will advise on deployments in the Indian datacentre market, with a focus on Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, as well as Central Government initiatives in New Delhi.

The role ties Submer's liquid-cooling products to India's growing emphasis on domestic, or "sovereign", AI infrastructure. India's broader digital infrastructure push has also increased attention on data sovereignty, energy demand and access to new sites for compute-heavy systems.

Policy focus

Shrivastava's remit covers government relations, policy and regulatory compliance. He will support discussions with government bodies and help align liquid cooling with "Green IT" and energy-efficiency mandates.

He will also advise on business development strategies that position liquid cooling and high-density datacentre design within national digital infrastructure programmes. Those programmes are driving demand for new data halls as public- and private-sector organisations adopt AI tools that require more power and cooling than conventional enterprise systems.

Liquid cooling has become a larger factor in datacentre planning as AI training and inference workloads push up rack power densities. Operators have also faced scrutiny over water use, electricity consumption and carbon emissions. In India, these issues have sharpened as state governments compete for datacentre investment while balancing grid constraints and sustainability targets.

Submer footprint

Submer is headquartered in Barcelona and positions itself as an end-to-end AI infrastructure supplier, designing, building and managing modular datacentre infrastructure. Founded in 2015, it has focused on liquid-cooling systems for datacentres.

Submer says its platform delivers "a certified sub-1.03 PUE" and "zero direct water consumption", and claims "up to 40% lower CO2 emissions compared to traditional air-cooled facilities". PUE is a commonly used datacentre energy-efficiency ratio that compares total facility power with IT equipment power.

It also markets services spanning design, manufacture and build, plus IT installation and cloud services. The company counts M&G Investments and Planet First Partners among its backers.

Background

Shrivastava led BSNL from 2015 to 2019. During that period, he oversaw national-scale projects he said exceeded ₹100,000 crore, which Submer put at approximately USD $14 billion.

Those projects included BharatNet, the Network for Spectrum for the Ministry of Defence, and a connectivity programme linked to internal security in left-wing extremism-affected areas. Submer also said Shrivastava received public commendation in 2017 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day speech, after BSNL returned to operational profitability for three consecutive fiscal years between 2015 and 2017.

His move into an advisory role comes as telecom, cloud and datacentre infrastructure continue to converge. Modern AI services depend on high-throughput connectivity and large-scale compute infrastructure, as well as extensive cooling systems that can operate within site and grid limits.

Industry context

Governments globally are paying closer attention to sovereign AI infrastructure as AI tools are integrated into public services and strategic industries. That focus has also increased scrutiny of the physical infrastructure underpinning AI, including hardware supply chains, site selection, energy procurement and cooling technologies.

In India, datacentre investment has expanded over the past several years as more enterprises shift data and applications into cloud environments. AI has added demand that can change facility design assumptions, including higher power densities and tighter thermal management requirements.

Submer described Shrivastava's appointment as part of a push to deepen relationships with public-sector stakeholders as datacentre construction and AI infrastructure planning gather pace across multiple regions.

Dev Tyagi, President of UKI, India and Asia at Submer, said: "We are honoured to have Anupam take on the role of Principal Advisor for Government and Green AI Initiatives in India. His experience and deep expertise in engaging with government stakeholders and business leaders make him invaluable when it comes to embracing strategic insights that support Submer's continued growth across India."

Shrivastava said his focus would be on sustainability and national infrastructure priorities.

"India is accelerating toward a massive AI-driven digital future, and the foundation of this growth must be sustainable datacenter infrastructure. I am thrilled to join Submer at this pivotal moment. Submer's zero-water consumption and energy-efficient liquid cooling technology is a critical enabler for India's Sovereign AI infrastructure. I look forward to working closely with government and enterprise leaders to build a truly green, high-density digital ecosystem for the nation," said Shrivastava.

Shrivastava will work with government bodies and enterprise leaders on deploying liquid-cooled, high-density datacentre projects in selected states and alongside Central Government initiatives in New Delhi.