Google to invest $15 billion in a new AI and data centre in Visakhapatnam
The hub will be Google’s largest AI facility outside the US
It will feature Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) for advanced AI computing
Signalling a major push towards India’s digital infrastructure goals, Google will invest $15 billion to establish the world’s largest AI and data centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian announced on Tuesday.
“We are incredibly proud, thanks to the support of the Government of India and the state of Andhra Pradesh, to announce a new gigawatt-scale AI hub in Visakhapatnam. This will be the largest AI hub we’re building anywhere in the world outside the United States, representing a capital investment of $15 billion over the next five years,” said Kurian.
He added that the facility will eventually scale to multiple gigawatts and become part of a global network of AI centres spanning 12 countries.
In other announcements, Kurian said Google will bring its subsea cable infrastructure to Visakhapatnam and connect it to the company’s global subsea network. “With this, Vizag will not only serve as a landing station for multiple international cables but also act as a digital backbone, connecting different parts of India together,” he noted.
Explaining the concept of the “AI hub,” Kurian described it as a full-stack infrastructure comprising Google’s proprietary Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), the foundational hardware for AI processing. These chips, he said, are highly power-efficient, capable of delivering twice the computational capacity using the same amount of electricity.
At a time when India is pushing for tech sovereignty, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian assured that the upcoming AI hub will store data locally to meet the country’s sovereign AI requirements. The facility will also integrate Google’s own AI models—Gemini, Imagen, Veo, and others—along with its AI platform that allows users to build custom agents and applications.
“Importantly, the same AI technology powering this hub also drives Google’s most iconic consumer products and services—Search, YouTube, Gmail, Ads, and more. For the first time, these services will also be served directly from India through this AI hub,” Kurian added.
CEO Kurian made this announcement during Google’s event on “India’s AI-Powered Future and Advancing the Vision of Viksit Bharat 2047,” in the presence of Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Electronics & IT; Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister; and N. Chandrababu Naidu, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.
At the event, Chandrababu Naidu recalled the 1990s when he had brought Microsoft to Hyderabad for the first time. “And now, Google has come to Visakhapatnam. We are very happy,” he said.
He also emphasized three key elements to take digitization to the next level: first, digital connectivity; second, data centers and AI; and third, real-time data collection integrated with historical data and global knowledge. Together, he said, these would form a powerful combination.
