Following the announcement of Google’s largest artificial intelligence hub and data centre outside the United States in Visakhapatnam, IT Minister Nara Lokesh has highlighted that the city is gaining a new identity as an AI data hub, having traditionally been known as the Steel City due to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
Speaking at the ground-breaking ceremony held in April at Tarluvada, Lokesh noted that the 1-gigawatt hyperscale AI data centre, coming up with an investment of $15 billion, is set to emerge as an AI hub in South East Asia. The Google Cloud AI Hub represents an investment of nearly Rs 1.35 lakh crore into Andhra Pradesh, expected to create nearly 25,000 jobs during the construction phase and support an ecosystem of around 2 lakh direct and indirect jobs.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said Andhra Pradesh’s industry-friendly policies, ease of doing business and speed of governance were key factors in attracting the global tech giant, emphasising that the state government focuses on grounding projects within strict timelines rather than merely signing agreements.
The data centre campuses are coming up across Tarluvada (266.60 acres), Adavivaram and Mudasarlova (160 acres), and Rambilli (174.80 acres), designed to enable strong data connectivity with Europe, Australia, Africa and the US through subsea infrastructure.
Lokesh also addressed concerns raised in the Assembly regarding water needs and environmental impact, assuring that water for the data centres would be sourced from the Polavaram project’s industrial allocation without diverting supply from residents, with dedicated pipelines and a gravity-based supply system to be in place within 18 months.
