Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, and others pose for a selfie during the signing of an MoU between the State government and Google for the AI Hub in Visakhapatnam
Leaders from government and industry have hailed Google’s ₹87,520-crore (USD 15 billion) plan to set up India’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hub and data centre in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, as a defining moment in the nation’s technological journey.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it a major step toward building a Viksit Bharat. “This investment, which includes gigawatt-scale data centre infrastructure, aligns with our vision for a developed India. It will democratise technology, ensure ‘AI for All,’ deliver cutting-edge tools to citizens, and strengthen India’s global leadership in technology,” he said on X.
Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan said the path to a Viksit Bharat “begins from the City of Destiny.” Visakhapatnam’s role as host of the AI Hub and India’s first AI City would, he said, “make AI accessible to youth, farmers, doctors, fishermen, entrepreneurs, women, and students alike,” highlighting Prime Minister Modi’s leadership and the Chief Minister’s decades of strategic experience. “This is our collective moment to build Bharat’s AI hub — where youth innovate, academia researches, citizens engage, and industry scales.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the Visakhapatnam hub would combine compute power, subsea connectivity, and clean energy to power AI-driven innovation nationwide. “We will bring our leading technology to enterprises and users across India, accelerating innovation and driving growth,” he noted.
Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani said the facility would house TPU and GPU infrastructure for large-scale AI model training and deployment. “We are proud to partner with Google to build India’s largest AI data centre campus, engineered for the demands of artificial intelligence,” he said.
Bharti Airtel said it would set up a data centre and cable landing station in Visakhapatnam to host Google’s new subsea cables. “These efforts will enhance India’s digital capabilities and deliver faster, better AI experiences nationwide,” it stated.
Google India described the move as its largest-ever investment in India, involving new infrastructure, an international subsea gateway, and gigawatt-scale computing to serve global operations.
Published – October 14, 2025 08:36 pm IST