Daijiworld Media Network – Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam, Oct 14: Tech giant Google, part of Alphabet Inc., is set to invest more than $10 billion in southern India to establish a massive 1-gigawatt data center in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The project, among Google’s largest global infrastructure investments, underscores India’s growing importance in the global digital economy.
According to Andhra Pradesh’s Technology Minister Nara Lokesh, the new facility is expected to be completed within two years. It forms part of the state’s ambitious plan to develop 6 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2029.
“It’s not just about the jobs,” Lokesh said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “It’s about the larger ripple effect it creates — the economic activity it brings.”
India has become a key player in the global data center boom, driven by the surging demand for artificial intelligence systems. Amazon has already announced a $12.7 billion investment to expand its cloud infrastructure in India by 2030, while ChatGPT maker OpenAI is reportedly planning a 1-gigawatt data center in the region.
Industry analysts predict that investments in India’s data center market could exceed $100 billion by 2027, according to CBRE Group Inc.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has hailed such technological advancements as vital to boosting the economy and lifting millions out of poverty. However, experts caution that limited water resources and unstable power supply remain major challenges to large-scale data infrastructure development.
Lokesh, son of Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, emphasized that Andhra Pradesh’s pro-industry policies — including subsidized land and power — are attracting major global players. He said the Telugu Desam Party aims to align with the central government’s goals, describing the collaborative effort as a “double engine, a bullet train” approach to development.
Naidu, known for his role in transforming Hyderabad into a tech hub in the late 1990s, now seeks to replicate that success in Visakhapatnam, positioning Andhra Pradesh as a new digital growth destination for India.