Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], April 28 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday laid the foundation stone of the Google Cloud India AI Hub in Visakhapatnam, marking a major step in building large-scale digital and AI infrastructure in the state.

The ceremony, part of the foundation stone laying event for the Adani-Google-Airtel Data Center project in Vizag, was attended by Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister Ram Mohan Naidu, and Director of Adani Digital Jeet Adani.

Google has earlier announced an investment of USD 15 billion in the project, making it one of the largest Foreign Direct Investments in India's history.

The current foundation stone is part of that investment. The AI data centre will have a capacity of 1 Gigawatt and will be developed across nearly 600 acres in Tharluwada, Adavivaram, and Rambilli regions. Companies such as AdaniConneX and Airtel Nxtra are partners in the project.

The state government said the project has been enabled by its proactive 'speed of doing business' policy aimed at attracting large-scale investments. With the upcoming subsea cable connectivity system, Visakhapatnam is expected to gain direct digital links with several countries, enhancing its global connectivity.

The data centre will provide large-scale data storage capacity along with advanced AI cloud infrastructure. The coastal location of Visakhapatnam makes it suitable for an international submarine cable landing station, further strengthening its position as a technology hub.

The government's long-term vision is to develop a multi-gigawatt digital hub with a total capacity of 6.5 Gigawatts across the state.

Beyond infrastructure, the project is expected to generate significant employment opportunities, with thousands of jobs likely to be created in areas such as artificial intelligence, cloud operations, maintenance, cybersecurity, cloud architecture, and data science.

The project is also expected to attract investments in allied sectors including power systems, cooling technologies, server manufacturing, and networking, helping build a robust AI ecosystem in Andhra Pradesh.

Google's AI cloud services are expected to position Visakhapatnam as a major technology hub in Asia, with AI-driven companies, IT startups, research centres, cloud firms, and semiconductor companies likely to establish operations in the region. (ANI)