Google just dropped some serious cash on what could be the biggest tech infrastructure play in the history of India. The search giant announced a massive $15 billion investment for an AI and data centre hub in southern India as their largest bet on India yet. It is not any other data center – it is a strategic step that has the potential to transform the whole technology scene in India.
Google builds humongous AI infrastructure hub in Visakhapatnam
Google unveiled plans Tuesday for a data center in the port city of Visakhapatnam in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The investment will occur over the next five years until 2030, and will be creating what Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian describes as the company’s largest investment outside of the United States. This is Google’s largest bet for India, overruling their existing pledge of $10 billion spent back in 2020.
The new facility will be a 1-gigawatt data center that Kurian says will be scaled to “multiple gigawatts” over time. The timings couldn’t be more interesting, coming as it does, a few weeks after President Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Indian imports. Indian tycoon Gautam Adani confirmed that his company AdaniConneX will partner with Google in the project, as well as India’s second biggest wireless carrier, Bharti Airtel.
Strategic partnerships accelerate India’s AI ambitions
The AI hub will provide Google’s “full stack of solutions”, including the custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for local AI processing, access to Gemini AI models and for building agents and applications. It will also support consumer services such as Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, and Google Ads.
Regional government goal: 6 Gigawatts of data capacity
Andhra Pradesh’s technology minister Nara Lokesh told Bloomberg that the state wants to have 6 gigawatts of data center capacity by 2029. The Visakhapatnam facility alone accounts for over $10 billion of Google’s total investment, according to Lokesh himself the son of Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu. The selection of Andhra Pradesh is not too surprising, considering Naidu’s record of turning Hyderabad into a tech metropolis.
Lokesh pointed out that this venture is much more than creating employment. It is about the big picture ripple effect it produces, the economic activity it produces, he said. The regional Telugu Desam Party his father leads, has been instrumental in Modi’s plans and provides subsidized land and power for new industrial ventures.
Key investment details:
- Total investment: $15 billion in a period of five years.
- The initial capacity was 1 gigawatt, which was upscaled to several gigawatts.
- Location: Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
- Partners: AdaniConneX, Bharti Airtel
India becomes the world’s AI infrastructure destination
Google joins other US tech titans in major investments in India. Amazon is looking to invest $12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure by 2030, and OpenAI is looking to set up a 1-gigawatt data center in the region. CBRE Group has estimated that investments in the Indian market for data centers will reach more than $100 billion by 2027.
Google’s huge investment reflects the increasing importance of India in the global AI boom and the vision of Prime Minister Modi about technology as the key factor in economic growth. With its large population and increasing use of technologies, along with difficulties in accessing enough water sources and unsatisfactory electricity services, India is an overwhelming market prospect even to the largest technology corporations. The collaboration includes some of the largest names in Indian business and telecommunication.
This announcement is propagated at the right time and is an indication of how tech giants are strategizing themselves in the high-growth digital economy of India. Not only is this the case with this investment, but it is a bet on the potential of India to become an AI-powerhouse capable of serving not only domestic markets but also effective in serving the Asian market as a whole.