Andhra Pradesh Gets AI Edge With Google's $15 Billion Boost
- Google announced a $15 Billion investment (2026-2030) to build a gigawatt-scale AI data centre in Visakhapatnam its largest outside the US.
- The government approved 10 semiconductor fab projects and 23 chip-design projects, while backing 12 startups to develop indigenous AI language models.
- India’s data centre market hit the 1 GW milestone in 2024, led by Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi boosting the country’s digital infrastructure ambitions.
In a boost to the state, Google had announced this week that it would invest $15 billion between 2026-2030 to establish an AI data centre facility in Andhra Pradesh. Located in Visakhapatnam, it would be the largest outside the US and would have a 'purpose-built data centre campus with gigawatt-scale compute capacity'.
Earlier in the year, in its second quarter earnings season, the firm had increased its capex guidance for the year to $85 billion to keep up with increasing demand as adoption rates for both companies and firms skyrocket. This is a huge endorsement for India's ambition to become a leading player in this area.
India's data centre market had reached the 1 GW milestone in 2024 according to a report by JLL. Estimated to contribute 52 percent of the country's capacity, the market is led by Mumbai, followed by Chennai and Delhi.
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Governments around the world are launching grand plans and committing massive resources in the AI space. The Indian government has also made a number of efforts to support the development of the bigger ecosystem in the country.
Ten semiconductor fab projects, involving high-volume fabs and OSATs (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test), have been sanctioned. Alongside, 23 chip-design projects have been authorized by the government and 12 startups have been selected to develop indigenous large language models as well as small language models.
Therefore, on the spectrum, ranging from the physical infrastructure (data centres) and the semiconductor initiatives (chips) to building large language models, India is advancing. All these have to be complemented by a parallel effort towards advancing research and development and upskilling the workforce.
