Google’s $15 bn AI data centre to come up in Vizag

Google will invest $15 billion to establish a massive AI Data Centre in Visakhapatnam, marking one of India’s largest foreign direct investments. Spread across 600 acres with a capacity of one gigawatt, the centre will position Visakhapatnam as a global AI hub.

Visakhapatnam: Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will lay the foundation for the Google AI Data Centre in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday (April 28).

According to officials, Google is going to invest $15 billion in the project, making it one of the largest Foreign Direct Investments in India’s history.

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The data centre will be developed across nearly 600 acres in Tharluwada, Adavivaram and Rambilli regions with a total capacity of 1 Gigawatt.

The AI Data Centre is expected to mark a historic milestone in India’s technology sector and also mark a new era in Andhra Pradesh’s technology landscape, said an official release on Sunday.

With this advanced facility, Visakhapatnam is poised to emerge as a key AI gateway for Asia and secure a permanent place on the global technology map. The prestigious project will position Visakhapatnam city along with the world’s leading technology hubs, it said.

With the upcoming subsea cable connectivity system, Visakhapatnam will soon have direct digital links with several countries. The data centre will provide large-scale data storage capacity along with advanced AI cloud infrastructure.

Visakhapatnam’s coastal location makes it highly suitable for an international submarine cable landing station.

Companies such as AdaniConneX and Airtel Nxtra are partners in the project. The government’s long-term vision is to build a multi-gigawatt digital hub with a total capacity of 6.5 Gigawatts across the state, said the release.

Beyond infrastructure, the Google Data Centre is expected to generate significant employment opportunities. Thousands of jobs are likely to be created in areas such as Artificial Intelligence, cloud operations, maintenance, cybersecurity, cloud architecture and data science. Revenue generated through data centres will further strengthen the state economy.

The project is also expected to attract investments in allied sectors, including power systems, cooling technologies, server manufacturing and networking, helping create a robust AI ecosystem in Andhra Pradesh.

Google AI cloud services are expected to position Visakhapatnam as a major technology hub in Asia. AI-driven companies are also likely to choose the city as their destination. IT startups, research centres, cloud firms and semiconductor companies are expected to establish operations in the region.

The government is making arrangements to ensure a green energy supply for data centres proposed by Google and other technology firms. With global companies focusing on Visakhapatnam, world-class infrastructure such as the upcoming Bhogapuram International Airport will further strengthen the city’s global appeal, the release added.