Google has just completed a $6 billion investment agreement to build a large-scale, 1 gigawatt (GW) data center in the port city of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, South India. This investment is Asia's largest data center project in terms of scale and capacity, of which 2 billion USD is dedicated to developing renewable energy to provide a clean and sustainable power source for the center. This is also part of the digital infrastructure expansion strategy to meet the growing global demand for data centers and digital transformation.
Along with Google, India's leading IT service provider Sify has also just been approved by the Andhra Pradesh cabinet for a 550 MW data center project worth 1.9 billion USD, bringing the state's total data center capacity to 1.55 GW with a total investment value of 7.9 billion USD.
Andhra Pradesh is focusing strongly on developing the technology industry and data centers through the Global Capacity and Information Technology (GCC) policy for the period 2024-2029, with many attractive incentives such as capital subsidies, rental support, electricity incentives and other support packages to attract large technology projects.
Nara Lokesh, Andhra Pradesh Minister of Information Technology, Electronics and Education, said the state has completed investment in data centers with a total capacity of 1.6 GW and set a development target of 6 GW in the next 5 years, turning Visakhapatnam into a regional strategic digital hub.
Andhra Pradesh is also building three new underground cable stations in Visakhapatnam to enhance network connectivity, competing with existing centers such as Mumbai. The state government has set a target that most of the energy supply to data centers will come from renewable energy, aiming for sustainable development with a total electricity demand of about 10 GW within 5 years.
Data center projects not only promote economic growth but also create thousands of jobs in the fields of technology, operations and supporting services. At the same time, the state is implementing skills development programs such as the "Future Skills Credit Program" to ensure a quality workforce, ready to meet the needs of this new industry.
