Visakhapatnam, known locally as Vizag, is quietly becoming one of India’s most significant global tech infrastructure hubs. Historically known for its port, steel plants, and naval base, the Andhra Pradesh city is now being developed as a gigawatt-scale AI compute hub, attracting investment that rivals major data centre destinations globally.
Google announced a $15 billion AI data centre investment, its first on Indian soil, with construction beginning in April 2026. The 1 gigawatt campus, developed in partnership with AdaniConneX and Airtel’s infrastructure arm Nxtra, includes subsea cable infrastructure to strengthen Vizag’s connectivity across the Asia-Pacific region.
Google is not alone. Meta has partnered with Sify Technologies on a 500 megawatt facility in Paradesipalem, backed by roughly $1.8 billion in capital. Additionally, a consortium of Reliance, Brookfield, and Digital Connexion is planning an $11 billion AI-native development targeting 1 gigawatt of capacity across 400 acres.
A key enabler is Andhra Pradesh’s policy framework, which allows large data centres to hold a “deemed distribution licence” permitting operators to procure power directly from generators rather than the state grid. This cuts operational costs and offers greater flexibility in sourcing renewable energy.
Vizag’s eastern coastal location also places it closer to Southeast Asian connectivity routes than western-facing infrastructure elsewhere in India, an advantage that the planned subsea cable upgrades will further amplify.
However, rapid industrial scaling has brought local tensions. Protests over water use and land acquisition have already surfaced in the region, and how Andhra Pradesh manages these disputes will influence the pace of future investment commitments.
