Andhra Pradesh CM N. Chandrababu Naidu Lays Foundation for Google Cloud India AI Hub in Visakhapatnam

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the Google Cloud India AI Hub in Visakhapatnam, marking a major step in building large-scale digital and artificial intelligence infrastructure in the state.

The ceremony, part of the foundation laying event for the Adani–Google–Airtel data centre project, was also attended by Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, Jeet Adani, Karan Adani, and state MP Mathukumilli Bharat, among other dignitaries.

Google has earlier announced an investment of USD 15 billion in the project, making it one of the largest foreign direct investments in India’s history. The current foundation stone forms part of that investment, with the AI data centre planned to have a capacity of 1 gigawatt and to be developed across nearly 600 acres in Tharluvada, Adavivaram and Rambilli regions. Companies including AdaniConneX and Airtel Nxtra are partners in the project.

"Today's celebration embodies the strength of the US, India partnership," said Laura Williams, Consul General at the U.S. Consulate General in Hyderabad.

Referring to the US-India trade deal, Williams said that when PM Modi and US President Donald Trump met in Washington a year ago, they set out a vision to strengthen India–US relations, including a framework to double bilateral trade to USD 500 billion annually by 2030.

She added that the TRUST initiative lies at the core of this partnership, aimed at advancing strategic technology cooperation, while initiatives like the AI hub in Visakhapatnam reflect the growing collaboration and will provide computing capacity for Indian researchers and entrepreneurs to build solutions that improve lives globally.

According to a press release issued by the Andhra Pradesh Information & Public Relations Department, the Google AI Data Centre will have a planned capacity of 1 Gigawatt and will be developed across nearly 600 acres spanning Tharluvada, Adavivaram and Rambilli regions.

The project is being positioned as a major step toward building a multi-gigawatt digital infrastructure ecosystem in the state, with a long-term vision of reaching a total capacity of 6.5 Gigawatts.

Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw outlined three key asks for industry partners, urging companies to consider manufacturing servers in India to support the scale of upcoming data centres, noting that several domestic firms already produce high-quality, cost-competitive systems.

He also called for collaboration under the India AI Mission to improve power efficiency through joint research projects with industry players. As a third priority, he emphasised the need to reduce water consumption, urging companies to focus on sustainability through recycling and efficient usage, while assuring full government support in achieving these goals.

Officials said the initiative has been enabled by the state government’s “speed of doing business” policy aimed at attracting large-scale global investments. The facility is expected to be supported by subsea cable connectivity, which will provide Visakhapatnam with direct digital links to multiple international locations.

"Andhra Pradesh, and more importantly Vizag is going to attract huge investments, huge commercial activity," said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman at Bharti Enterprises, adding that the entire project is backed by strong global confidence, with nearly 400 megawatts of renewable energy that Airtel's Nxtra will utilise to ensure India moves towards net zero by 2031.

"Today India stands at approximately 1.3 gigawatts of data center capacity. Just for context, here today, we are envisioning nearly one gigawatt in a single location," Jeet Adani of Adani Group said.

The data centre is expected to significantly boost employment generation in sectors such as artificial intelligence, cloud operations, cybersecurity, data science, and infrastructure maintenance. It is also likely to attract investments in allied industries including power systems, cooling technologies, server manufacturing and networking.

Officials said the project is expected to position Visakhapatnam as a major AI and cloud computing hub in Asia, potentially drawing interest from global technology firms, startups, research centres and semiconductor companies.