Andhra Pradesh’s IT Minister, Nara Lokesh did not confirm the Google development but said the state has already secured 1.6 GW of data center commitments
In sum – what you need to know:
Asia’s largest data center – Google plans to invest $6B in a 1 GW facility in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, including $2B for renewable energy.
Strategic expansion – The project adds to Google’s growing footprint in India and Southeast Asia, including new cable and cloud infrastructure.
Andhra’s digital push – The Indian state targets 6 GW of data center capacity and 3 subsea cable landings, to rival Mumbai’s digital connectivity.
Google is set to invest $6 billion in a hyperscale data center in the port city of Visakhapatnam, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
The project includes $2 billion earmarked for renewable energy infrastructure to power the data center facility, according to a Reuters report, which cited two state government sources.
This new investment would mark Google’s first data center of this scale in India, and the largest in Asia in terms of both capacity and investment. The development forms part of a wider regional expansion, with new data center projects also underway in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Google has been expanding its digital footprint in India. The company had launched a cloud region in Mumbai in 2017, followed by another in Delhi in 2021. Google is also planning to launch a sovereign AI cloud in partnership with Indian company Airtel Business later this year.
This $6 billion investment also aligns with Google’s 2020 pledge to invest $10 billion over 5–7 years in India’s digital ecosystem—a commitment that included a $4.5 billion stake in Indian telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm, owned by local conglomerate Reliance Industries.
Andhra Pradesh’s IT Minister, Nara Lokesh did not confirm the Google development but reportedly said the state has already secured 1.6 GW of data center commitments. Andhra Pradesh aims to grow that figure to 6 GW within five years, up from almost zero today. The initial capacity is expected to go live within 24 months — surpassing India’s current total capacity of 1.4 GW, according to consultancy Anarock.
As part of its strategy to build out digital infrastructure, Andhra Pradesh also plans to install three subsea cable landing stations in Visakhapatnam. Lokesh said the goal is to double the subsea cable capacity currently found in Mumbai, a key connectivity hub for India.
Meeting the energy demands of these projects will require up to 10 GW of power generation over the next five years. Lokesh said the majority of this will come from renewable sources, but acknowledged that some coal-fired generation will also be used to ensure constant and reliable power for energy-intensive data center operations.
As artificial intelligence (AI) adoption accelerates across industries, India is emerging as a key player in AI-driven data infrastructure. The Asian country is witnessing a surge in AI data centers, driven by rising demand for cloud computing, machine learning (ML) and big data analytics. These facilities provide the computational power necessary to support AI applications in sectors like healthcare, finance and smart cities. In this article, RCR Wireless News highlight five of the most significant AI data centers in the country.
