Google to invest $10 billion in India’s largest data centre cluster in Visakhapatnam: Report

Alphabet’s Google plans to invest about $10 billion to build a one-gigawatt data centre cluster in Visakhapatnam in its first such large-scale infrastructure investment in India, the Economic Times reported on Wednesday.

The project will comprise three data centre campuses -- one each in Adavivaram and Tarluvada villages in Visakhapatnam district and Rambilli village in Anakapalli district The data centre cluster is expected to become operational by July 2028.

Construction of the cluster will involve three high-capacity submarine cables, dedicated cable landing stations, and metro fibre lines to support the telecommunications backbone, according to the report.

The investment proposal is expected to be approved this week by the Andhra Pradesh State Investment Promotion Board, chaired by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, while a formal agreement is likely to be signed between Google executives and the state’s IT and electronics minister, Nara Lokesh, in New Delhi on October 14.

The project would be Google’s largest direct investment in India’s digital infrastructure to date and is expected to form part of the country’s first international AI Infrastructure Hub.

Google currently operates data centres across 11 countries, including the United States, Singapore, Japan, and Ireland, spread across 29 sites, according to the report.

The proposed investment comes days after IT & HRD Minister Nara Lokesh met with industry leaders in Mumbai to promote Andhra Pradesh as a prime destination for investment across diverse sectors.

During a CII Investors event in Mumbai, the minister invited the Tata Group to inaugurate the new TCS Development Centre in Visakhapatnam later this month and also proposed a strategic partnership with Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL) to develop Electric Vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure statewide.

"We are a large state with the second-longest coastline in the country. Our approach combines vertical and horizontal integration to ensure decentralised, sustainable development," NDTV quoted the minister as saying.