While Donald Trump was busy announcing 25% tariffs + “penalty” on India, US tech giant Google is reportedly planning to put in $6 billion towards establishing a 1-gigawatt data center in India. According to a Reuters report, expected to come in the southern tech state of Andhra Pradesh, Google would set up the center along with its associated power infrastructure, marking the company’s inaugural direct data center investment within the nation.
The planned facility will be located in the port city of Visakhapatnam. This investment reportedly includes a $2 billion allocation specifically for renewable energy generation capacity, which is designated to supply power to the entire data center operation. Two Andhra Pradesh government officials, possessing direct knowledge of the project, shared these details with Reuters.
Upon completion, this data center is projected to be the largest in Asia, both in terms of operational capacity and investment scale, forming a component of Google’s broader multi-billion-dollar expansion of its data center portfolio across the Asian region, encompassing locations such as Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand. In April, Alphabet had reaffirmed its goal to allocate approximately $75 billion this year towards expanding its data center capabilities globally, notwithstanding the prevailing economic uncertainties influenced by US President Donald Trump’s global tariff policies.
Nara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh’s Information Technology Minister, who is currently engaged in investment discussions with government and business leaders in Singapore, refrained from directly commenting on Google’s specific investment. Lokesh referenced existing public announcements, such as Sify Technologies’ plans for a 550-megawatt data center within the state, and alluded to forthcoming, currently undisclosed investment pronouncements slated for October.
Google’s investment is expected to generate a range of direct and indirect employment opportunities, spanning from construction and engineering roles to specialized IT operations and maintenance, thereby boosting local skill sets and contributing to economic growth in the state as well.
The investment also comes amidst India’s push for digital infrastructure development, driven by initiatives like ‘Digital India’ and various state-level policies designed to attract data center operators. Many Indian states now offer incentives, including subsidized land, preferential power tariffs, and streamlined single-window clearance mechanisms, recognizing data centers as essential infrastructure. Nationally, India’s data center capacity is projected to expand significantly, with forecasts suggesting a doubling of installed capacity to 3.4 GW by 2030, and total investments in the sector potentially exceeding $100 billion by 2027. Policies promoting data localization, which mandate that certain types of data be stored within India’s borders, also serve as a key catalyst for such domestic infrastructure build-outs.
Lokesh provided further insights into Andhra Pradesh’s broader digital infrastructure ambitions. He stated that the state has already secured investments for data centers totaling 1.6 gigawatts of capacity. The state government aims to achieve a cumulative data center capacity of 6 gigawatts over the next five years, a substantial increase from its current near-zero operational capacity. Lokesh anticipates that the initial 1.6 gigawatts of agreed-upon data center projects will become operational within the next 24 months, a volume that would surpass the approximately 1.4 gigawatts presently active across all of India, according to real estate consultancy Anarock.
To support this expansion, Andhra Pradesh is also pursuing the establishment of three cable landing stations in Visakhapatnam. Lokesh emphasized the objective of developing a robust cable network that would be twice the size of Mumbai’s current infrastructure. Cable landing stations are vital facilities typically situated in proximity to data centers, enabling swift and dependable connections to international networks by housing equipment that receives and transmits data via undersea cables.
The competitive landscape for data center development in India includes numerous prominent domestic and international players. Companies such as AWS, Microsoft, AdaniConneX, CtrlS, NTT, Yotta, and Sify Technologies are actively investing in expanding their data center footprints across various Indian cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, and Delhi-NCR. Google’s $6 billion commitment positions it as one of the largest single data center projects in the region, intensifying competition for market share in India’s burgeoning digital economy.
