New Delhi: Google CEO Sundar Pichai on Tuesday unveiled plans for the tech giant’s first-ever Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh — marking Google’s largest AI investment outside the United States.
Pichai said he discussed the ambitious project with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, emphasizing how it would accelerate AI-driven innovation and bolster India’s rapidly growing digital economy.
Taking to social media, Pichai wrote, “Great to speak with India PM @narendramodi and @OfficialINDIAai to share our plans for the first-ever Google AI hub in Visakhapatnam — a landmark development. This hub combines gigawatt-scale compute capacity, a new international subsea gateway, and large-scale energy infrastructure to bring our industry-leading technology to India, driving AI innovation and growth across the country.”
Google announced an investment of USD 15 billion over the next five years to establish the gigawatt-scale AI hub, which was revealed during ‘Bharat AI Shakti’, an event hosted by Google in New Delhi.
Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud, highlighted that the Visakhapatnam hub will be integrated into Google’s global AI network spanning 12 countries. “This will not only serve as a landing station for numerous subsea cables but also act as a digital backbone connecting various parts of India. We’re not just introducing AI capabilities but also building the core digital infrastructure through our subsea cable and connectivity hub,” Kurian said.
He added that the Andhra Pradesh AI hub will become Google’s largest outside the U.S., underscoring the company’s long-standing presence in India.
“It’s the largest AI hub we’re investing in anywhere in the world outside the U.S., representing a capital investment of USD 15 billion over five years,” Kurian noted. “Google has been in India for 21 years. We employ over 14,000 people across five locations, operate two cloud regions in New Delhi and Mumbai, and manufacture our devices here.”
Kurian further stated that the Visakhapatnam facility will scale to multiple gigawatts in capacity and function as a global connectivity center, strengthening India’s position in the global AI ecosystem.
