Technology: Google to invest $15 bn in India’s first AI hub in Visakhapatnam
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Amid uncertainties in geopolitics, world trade, and tariffs, technology behemoth Google on Tuesday announced to invest USD 15 billion over the next five years to set up India’s first artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
The upcoming campus for the largest AI data centre outside the USA will see Google deploy its full AI stack to help accelerate AI-driven transformation across India, the media reported.
The Andhra Pradesh Government signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Google in New Delhi on Tuesday for setting up a 1-gigawatt hyperscale data centre in Visakhapatnam.
The MoU was exchanged in the presence of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Minister for Electronics, IT, Railways, and I&B Ashwini Vaishnaw, and members of the senior management of Google.
“We are working with our engineering teams here to put together digital infrastructure for commerce, to bring merchants online, so it’s much easier to offer products and services to people. And we see AI being used, for example, to build a commerce agent that can help people find products and services that they need, and transact using newer, easy-to-use payment protocols. And, so we see all of these advances and technology that we are bringing through the AI hub,” Thomas Kurian, Chief Executive Officer of Google Cloud, said here.
With this hub, the company’s aim is to foster creativity in the entrepreneurial community in India, to help skill young people with these tools and technologies, because any technology requires skills development and training on how to use it, he said.
“And, lastly, through the infrastructure we are putting in place, to also connect India with the rest of Asia, and directly with the US. So, we see network connectivity as an important part of connecting this hub to the rest of the world,” Kurian added.
Vaishnaw told reporters the way India made a strong presence in the IT sector, it will do the same in the AI domain. Many new opportunities are emerging — AI services are now a totally new segment in the digital economy.
“With good digital infrastructure, we should be able to prepare, re-skill, and upscale our youth, to make sure they are ready for the AI opportunities available. This date centre will be part of the AI Mission. It will augment the AI infrastructure needed to ensure that the youth/ start-ups get the facilities required for their products and services,” he added.
“Apart from employment, the economy could get a big boost. It will have an impact on all walks of life, whether it is education, healthcare, and agriculture. Many companies have already started like TCS, Cognizant…every company is coming to Vizag (Visakhapatnam),” CM N. Chandrababu Naidu, told reporters.
Companies like Airtel (Bharti Airtel) have entered into a strategic partnership with Google to set up the AI hub in Visakhapatnam.
“This landmark initiative will accelerate the adoption of AI across India, strengthen the country’s digital backbone and bring Google’s full AI-stack and consumer services closer to Indian businesses.”
The new AI hub will combine powerful AI infrastructure, data centre capacity, large-scale energy sources, and an expanded fibre-optic network, all in one place and will position Visakhapatnam in particular and Andhra Pradesh in general as an emerging destination in India to drive India’s AI transformation.
“It is a transformative project for the future of Andhra Pradesh,” Nara Lokesh, AP Minister for IT, said in a release.
