The Visakhapatnam Beach
Google, AdaniConneX Launch $15B AI Hub in Andhra Pradesh
PM Hails Google AI Hub as Step Toward ‘Viksit Bharat’
New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh is preparing to host Google’s ambitious gigawatt-scale investment in collaboration with Adani Enterprises through its joint venture, AdaniConneX, with a planned 1-gigawatt hyperscale data centre and artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam, projected to bring in ₹10,000 crore in additional revenue to the state. This multi-faceted investment of approximately USD 15 billion over five years (2026–2030) is expected to generate roughly ₹10,000 crore in revenue for Andhra Pradesh and create between 5,000 and 6,000 direct jobs, with total employment impact estimated at 20,000–30,000 across the state.
The announcement came at the Bharat AI Shakti event in New Delhi, where Union Minister of State Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar described the project as a defining moment in the state’s journey toward Swarandhra—a vision of progress and self-reliance. At the same event, Google announced that the Visakhapatnam site would be its first AI hub in India, in conjunction with India’s first gigawatt-scale data centre. The invitation list included Union Ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw, Nirmala Sitharaman, state leadership, and Google Cloud’s Thomas Kurian.
The Prime Minister’s Office welcomed the announcement, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi stated that the investment aligns with India’s vision for a “Viksit Bharat,” supporting the democratisation of technology, strengthening the digital economy, and elevating India’s role in global technology leadership.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai commented, “Great to speak with India PM @narendramodi @OfficialINDIAai to share our plans for the first-ever Google AI hub in Visakhapatnam, a landmark development. This hub combines gigawatt-scale compute capacity, a new international subsea gateway, and large-scale energy infrastructure. Through it, we will bring our industry-leading technology to enterprises and users in India, accelerating AI innovation and driving growth across the country.”
Pichai’s mention of a subsea gateway hints at the global ambitions underlying the investment—Visakhapatnam is not just to host a local data centre, but to plug into international fibre, compute, and cloud infrastructure.
As India’s largest AI investment outside the United States, the Visakhapatnam hub is expected to serve as a strategic anchor for subsea cable landings and data infrastructure in eastern India, linking to Google’s global network spanning 12 countries. Google has also disclosed that the data centre will be developed in collaboration with ecosystem partners, including AdaniConneX and Airtel.
This investment ranks among the largest in India’s tech infrastructure, amplifying existing trends. Already, technology giants are comparing India to Asia’s leading markets; Google’s scale here is widely reported as its biggest AI infrastructure push outside the U.S.
“The Adani Group is proud to partner with Google on this historic project that will define the future of India’s digital landscape,” said Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group. “This is more than just an investment in infrastructure. It is an investment in the soul of a rising nation. Visakhapatnam is now set to become a global destination for technology, and we are thrilled to be the architects of this monumental journey.”
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, added: “To unlock India’s massive potential in the AI age, we are investing in the Google AI hub, which will provide the critical foundation to drive growth and enable businesses, researchers, and creators to build and scale with AI. Working with Adani, we will bring our cutting-edge resources closer to communities and customers alike, and offer them the performance, security, and scalability to innovate and thrive on a global stage.”
The project’s foundational pillars include significant compute capacity to support AI development, an ecosystem-oriented approach through partnerships with AdaniConneX and Airtel, and sustainability commitments through clean energy integration. The hub is expected to create a multiplier effect on Andhra Pradesh’s economy, contributing to technology adoption, employment generation, and digital infrastructure growth.
AdaniConneX is a 50:50 joint venture between Adani Enterprises and EdgeConneX, focused on building environmentally and socially conscious 1GW data centre platforms in India. Leveraging Adani Group’s infrastructure capacity and EdgeConneX’s experience in private data centres, the venture aims to accelerate India’s digital ambition.
Google Cloud provides AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools and operates in more than 200 countries and territories. Its investment in the Visakhapatnam AI hub reflects a broader effort to provide advanced AI infrastructure and services to Indian businesses and research institutions.
With Google’s announcement of a $15 billion investment to build a 1-gigawatt hyperscale data centre and AI hub in Visakhapatnam, attention has naturally focused on jobs, infrastructure, and local development. But beyond the numbers lies a story about India’s evolving role in the global technology landscape, and how local ambitions, national policy, and corporate strategy are converging on the country’s eastern coast.
When Google and Andhra Pradesh first signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2024 to build a major AI data centre in Visakhapatnam, few could imagine just how far that early agreement would reach. But over the next ten months, that seed of a plan would grow, weather regulatory challenges, and materialise into a headline project announced this October.
By April 2025, media reports had already surfaced quoting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu that Google was preparing to “come to Vizag,” signalling that the MOU had evolved beyond paper into real infrastructure discussion. Throughout mid-2025, speculation mounted: industry watchers and local stakeholders reported that Google was planning a $6 billion, 1-gigawatt data centre in Andhra Pradesh, with Visakhapatnam emerging as the preferred location. At the same time, the Andhra Pradesh government floated the idea of a “Data City”—a roughly 500-acre facility near Madhurawada in Visakhapatnam—to support upcoming data and AI infrastructure.
These early whispers set up October’s dramatic announcement. On 14 October 2025, Google formally revealed a USD 15 billion investment spanning 2026 to 2030, to build both a 1-GW hyperscale data centre and the company’s first AI hub in India.
Dr Pemmasani Chandrasekhar estimated the investment, running from 2026 to 2030, would generate about ₹10,000 crore for Andhra Pradesh, create 5,000–6,000 direct jobs, and support 20,000–30,000 total jobs across the economy. The scale of supporting infrastructure—power, cooling, connectivity—would, he said, ripple well beyond Visakhapatnam’s city limits. The project, he said, would help reposition Andhra Pradesh as a digital hub and accelerate AI adoption across India.
For Visakhapatnam, the opportunity is both literal and symbolic. A coastal city known for its port and industrial past may now be stepping into a new identity—as a node in global compute, energy, and AI networks. Local planners will need to balance power supply, water, land use, environmental regulation, and talent attraction. The projected new subsea data gateway and large-scale energy infrastructure position Visakhapatnam as a critical node in global cloud and compute networks.
For Andhra Pradesh and India, the challenge will be to turn this infrastructure pledge into sustained economic gain, inclusive growth, skill development, and innovation ecosystems. The risk, as with many large technology investments, lies in whether the surrounding ecosystem—universities, small firms, policy institutions—can absorb and leverage the scale.
By combining political backing, corporate strategy, global network ambitions, and local infrastructure plans, the Visakhapatnam project may well become a touchstone in India’s AI journey—not only for Andhra Pradesh but for how the country anchors itself in the next wave of global technology competition.
– global bihari bureau
