Daijiworld Media Network - Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam, Aug 27: Google expects to complete the first phase of its artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam within the next 24 to 30 months and begin initial operations of its 1-gigawatt data centre soon after, a senior company executive has said.
Alexander Smith, principal of global infrastructure and energy for Asia Pacific at Google, said the company was working simultaneously on several components, including data centre facilities, renewable energy generation, transmission infrastructure and subsea cable connectivity.
“We are solving a multi-variable equation in parallel, so that all of it can show up together at the right time,” Smith told Business Standard in an interaction in New Delhi.
Google broke ground on the Visakhapatnam AI hub in April this year. The project is part of the company's commitment to invest $15 billion in India between 2026 and 2030, its largest investment in the country to date. Google had announced the AI hub in October 2025.
The first phase of the data centre is expected to become operational by late 2028, while Google aims to complete all phases and bring the entire hub into operation over the next five years, Smith said.
“Often the first building that is built is the most expensive and slowest,” he said, adding that the pace of overall completion would depend on how quickly the company applies the lessons learned during the first phase.
The five-year target assumes there will be no additional expansion beyond the currently planned project, Smith said.
The Visakhapatnam AI hub is being developed in partnership with AdaniConneX and Nxtra by Airtel. The project includes a gigawatt-scale data centre, renewable energy infrastructure, an expanded fibre network and new international subsea cable connectivity.
Google is also working on new subsea cable routes that will provide direct and faster connectivity between Visakhapatnam and major markets including Singapore, Australia, West Asia and Europe, with onward connectivity to the United States.
The company expects the new infrastructure to reduce latency for its AI applications in India, where it has seen rapid growth in the adoption of its products and services.
In addition to international subsea cables, Google plans to build high-speed inter-city fibre links connecting the Visakhapatnam hub with major Indian cities.
“Visakhapatnam will become like that hub-and-spoke model from where the cable will head into some of the major metros,” Smith said, adding that the company would build a dense, high-capacity fibre network.
Google's planned 1-GW facility will use air-cooling technology and be powered by green energy, with the company aiming to minimise its overall carbon footprint.
Smith said the facility's water consumption would be comparable to that of a corporate office of a similar size because of the air-cooling system.
The project's environmental impact has nevertheless become a subject of debate. Environmental groups and activists have raised concerns over water availability and the potential impact on nearby wildlife areas. Google has said it will use advanced air-cooling technology and has committed to transparency through independent and scientific reporting.
The AI hub is designed as a broader infrastructure ecosystem rather than simply a data centre. Google's original announcement said it would combine gigawatt-scale computing capacity with new clean-energy generation, energy storage, transmission infrastructure and an expanded fibre-optic network.
As part of its community initiatives, Google also plans to train 10,000 women from communities around Visakhapatnam in basic information technology and AI-related skills.
Smith said the company was currently assessing the skills that would need to be developed among the local population over the long term.
The project is expected to significantly strengthen Visakhapatnam's position as a major technology and connectivity hub. The Andhra Pradesh government has described the development as a major step towards transforming the city into an AI-focused technology centre.