Google announces first AI hub in India, its biggest outside US - 10 points

Alphabet Inc.'s Google aims to invest about $15 billion to build an AI hub in India, its largest outside the US, making its biggest bet on a country with a billion-strong internet population.

Google will invest about $15 billion over five years (2026–2030) to set up its first AI hub in India, located in Vizag. (AFP)

The hub—which includes gigawatt-scale AI data centre powered by renewable energy and undersea fibre-optic network—will come up in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, over the next five years. Against that backdrop, here are 10 key takeaways from Google's AI bet on India.

1. Massive $15 billion investment: Google will invest about $15 billion over five years (2026–2030) to set up its first AI hub in India, located in Vizag. This is the company’s largest investment in India to date.

2. Full AI stack deployment: The hub will integrate AI infrastructure, data centre capacity, renewable energy, and fibre-optic networks, enabling deployment of Google’s full AI capabilities in India.

3. Alignment with Viksit Bharat 2047: The initiative supports the Indian government’s Viksit Bharat 2047 vision, aimed at expanding AI-driven economic and social development.

4. US–India tech cooperation: The project symbolises a new phase of US–India technology collaboration, expected to generate $15 billion in US GDP through AI-related trade and development.

5. High-profile launch: The announcement at Bharat AI Shakti in New Delhi featured top Indian ministers—Ashwini Vaishnaw, Nirmala Sitharaman, N. Chandrababu Naidu, and Nara Lokesh—alongside Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.

6. A gigawatt-scale data centre campus: The Vizag hub will feature India’s first gigawatt-scale data centre, built with AdaniConneX and Airtel, providing low-latency, high-performance infrastructure for AI and cloud services.

7. Global integration: Once operational, the Vizag hub will join Google’s network of AI data centres in 12 countries, drawing on R&D support from Google’s India offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune.

8. New subsea gateway: Google will construct multiple subsea cables landing in Visakhapatnam, connecting India to its global fibre network of over two million miles, strengthening India’s digital backbone and improving latency and reliability.

9. Renewable energy commitment: The company will work with local partners to build new renewable energy capacity, transmission lines, and energy storage systems in Andhra Pradesh to power the hub sustainably.

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10. Societal and economic impact: The hub is designed to accelerate AI adoption, foster upskilling and digital inclusion, and boost innovation and startup ecosystems in India—anchoring India’s emergence as a global AI leader.