Google is making a $15 billion funding to arrange a 1-gigawatt information middle and AI hub in India, even because the Indian authorities pushes for decreased reliance on U.S. tech giants.
On Tuesday, Google stated it will construct the info middle within the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, within the port metropolis of Visakhapatnam. The funding will happen over the subsequent 5 years by means of 2030, the corporate added. Notably, this marks Google’s largest funding in India and comes 5 years after it first introduced a $10 billion dedication to the South Asian nation in 2020.
Weeks after President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff on Indian imports in August, Prime Minister Narendra Modi started urging the usage of “swadeshi” (Hindi for “made in India”) merchandise. In response, Indian lawmakers and ministries began selling native options to Google — together with these from Chennai-based enterprise tech agency Zoho Company, which affords rivals to Google Cloud and Gmail, and most just lately, WhatsApp-rival Arattai, in addition to MapMyIndia, a Google Maps-rival. Whereas the preliminary influence has been restricted, these strikes might pose an actual political risk to the way forward for corporations Google and Microsoft in India.
Google has 14,000 staff in India, and has operated within the nation for 21 years. The corporate additionally counts Delhi and Mumbai as official cloud areas.
The brand new Google AI hub would be the firm’s largest funding exterior of the U.S., stated Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, including that it will be scaled to “a number of gigawatts” over time.
“It’s a part of a world community of AI facilities in 12 completely different international locations,” Kurian stated on the launch of the AI hub in New Delhi. “Along with that, we’re additionally happy to announce that we are going to be making Vishakhapatnam a world connectivity hub.”
Google additionally introduced plans to carry its subsea cable infrastructure to Visakhapatnam. The U.S. tech large has partnered with Indian telecom supplier Bharti Airtel to construct each the info middle and the cable touchdown station within the metropolis. Additional, Google has teamed up with Adani Group-backed AdaniConneX to arrange the infrastructure for the info middle.
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“We see it not simply changing into a touchdown station for numerous cables, but additionally offering a digital spine connecting completely different elements of India collectively,” Kurian stated.
Google stated the AI hub will supply a “full stack of options,” together with its customized Tensor Processing Items (TPUs) to allow native AI processing.
The Mountain View–based mostly firm will even present entry to its AI fashions — together with Gemini — and its platform for constructing brokers and functions. The hub will moreover assist client companies resembling Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, and Google Advertisements.
“We see this hub not simply serving India however from India serving Asia and different elements of the world,” Kurian stated.
Google’s selection of Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh isn’t a surprise. The southern state, below Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, has beforehand attracted international tech corporations like Oracle and Microsoft to arrange hubs in Hyderabad, which was Andhra Pradesh’s capital earlier than the creation of Telangana. Naidu, a key political ally who supported Prime Minister Modi’s return to energy within the final normal election, has since performed a outstanding position in shaping nationwide coverage discussions.
“This AI hub can be a vital contribution to the [India] AI mission targets in numerous methods,” stated Indian IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
The minister urged Google to contemplate India’s Andaman Islands as the subsequent main hub for international web information switch, noting that Singapore “is all choked,” and guaranteed the corporate of full authorities assist. He additionally proposed linking Visakhapatnam with Sittwe, a metropolis in Myanmar, to enhance connectivity in India’s northeastern states.
