Google to invest $15 bn on AI hub in India; partners Adani for data centre

New Delhi: In its largest-ever commitment to India, Google announced plans to invest $15 billion in building a massive AI infrastructure hub in Andhra Pradesh, including a gigawatt-scale data centre in partnership with the Adani Group. The investment, to be rolled out between 2026 and 2030, marks one of the largest technology projects in India’s history.

The hub, to be located in Visakhapatnam, will serve as Google’s largest facility outside the United States and is expected to generate 5,000–6,000 direct jobs and up to 30,000 total jobs in the region. The project will include a clean energy-powered data centre, a new international subsea gateway, and a fibre-optic network to support India’s rapidly growing demand for AI computing power.

“This is the largest AI hub that we are going to be investing in anywhere in the world outside of the US,” said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, during the signing ceremony in Andhra Pradesh.

Google’s partners in the project include AdaniConneX, a joint venture between Adani Enterprises and US-based EdgeConneX, and Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator. The facility’s 1-gigawatt (GW) capacity will consume nearly half of Mumbai’s annual electricity usage, with power supplied from renewable energy sources developed by Adani.

Gautam Adani, Chairman of the Adani Group, described the project as “a monumental day for India,” noting that the infrastructure will house advanced TPU and GPU computing clusters required for deep learning, neural network training, and large-scale AI model deployment. “We are honoured to be building the engine to power India’s AI revolution,” he said in a post on X.

The scale of Google’s investment surpasses several major Indian infrastructure projects. At nearly Rs 1.25 lakh crore, it is only slightly smaller than the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project and significantly higher than the $2.1 billion Navi Mumbai airport development.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, responding to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s announcement on X, called the initiative a “multi-faceted investment” that aligns with India’s goal of building a Viksit Bharat. “It will democratise technology, boost our digital economy, and secure India’s place as a global technology leader,” he said. Pichai described the Visakhapatnam hub as a “landmark development”, combining gigawatt-scale computing power with green energy and international connectivity. “Through it, we will bring our industry-leading technology to enterprises and users in India, accelerating AI innovation and driving growth across the country,” he said.

The project represents a major milestone in India’s expanding digital infrastructure. Andhra Pradesh’s IT Minister Nara Lokesh said the state aims to host 6 GW of data centre capacity by 2029–30, with the Visakhapatnam hub accounting for over $10 billion of investment from Google and its partners.

The initiative follows a broader wave of US tech investment in India. Amazon has pledged $12.7 billion in cloud infrastructure by 2030, while OpenAI and Microsoft are also expanding their data centre presence. Industry analysts expect India’s data centre market to surpass $100 billion by 2027.

A Google-commissioned analysis estimates the Visakhapatnam hub could generate an additional $15 billion in US GDP through increased AI adoption and economic activity linked to the project’s development.

Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Ashwini Vaishnaw both lauded the Andhra Pradesh government’s swift facilitation of the investment, with Sitharaman noting Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s track record in building digital infrastructure.

With construction scheduled to begin in 2026, the Visakhapatnam AI hub is poised to become a cornerstone of India’s technological rise—anchoring the country’s ambitions to emerge as a global leader in artificial intelligence and cloud computing.