Synopsis
Google has started work on a massive $15 billion AI data centre hub in Visakhapatnam. This project, a significant foreign investment, will boost India's digital infrastructure. It includes substantial data centre capacity, subsea cables, and clean energy. The initiative aims to create jobs and strengthen the local tech ecosystem. Officials emphasized local manufacturing and sustainable practices for India's AI future.Listen to this article in summarized format
The project, anchored by Google Cloud in partnership with the Adani Group and Bharti Airtel, will bring together 1 gigawatt of data centre capacity, subsea cable connectivity, fibre networks and clean energy infrastructure in a single integrated hub.
Sundar Pichai, chief executive of Google, said the initiative reflects the company's long-term commitment to India. "Today, we're breaking ground in Vizag on our new full-stack AI hub. It's part of our $15B investment in India's infrastructure and will house gigawatt-scale compute, a new international subsea cable gateway and clean energy infrastructure," he said in a LinkedIn post, adding that the project would drive jobs and strengthen the local ecosystem.
IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw used the occasion to push for deeper localisation and sustainability in India's AI infrastructure buildout. "I have only three asks from the industry... please focus on manufacturing your servers in India," he said, adding that several domestic companies already produce globally competitive servers. He also called for semiconductor packaging work to be done locally.
Vaishnaw further urged companies to improve power efficiency through joint research under the IndiaAI Mission and to reduce water consumption in data centres, calling sustainability "a very important point".
