Google will invest a staggering $15 billion to build data center capacity for a new AI hub in southern India, marking the company’s largest AI investment outside of the United States.
CNBC reports that Google has announced plans to invest $15 billion in a new AI data center hub in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The investment, which will be rolled out over the next five years, represents Google’s largest AI investment outside of the United States.
The announcement was made by Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian at an event on Tuesday. The deal comes after a year of intense discussions and relentless effort, according to Nara Lokesh, the Minister for Human Resources Development of Andhra Pradesh. Lokesh, who had previously put the 1-gigawatt project at $10 billion, hailed the investment as “just the beginning” in a post on the social media platform X.
Reports from the Economic Times suggest that the investment will be made by Google’s Indian subsidiary Raiden Infotech, which plans to develop three campuses across the city of Visakhapatnam. State officials are also planning to significantly scale up the state’s computing capacity over the next three years, doubling down on such projects to attract more investment.
The Google investment is part of a broader trend of companies ramping up investments in infrastructure to keep pace with surging global demand for cloud services as AI services become increasingly popular. Google itself increased its forecast for capital expenditures in 2025 to $85 billion, up from $75 billion in February, due to “strong and growing demand for our Cloud products and services.”
In addition to the India investment, Google also announced plans in July to invest $25 billion in data center and artificial intelligence infrastructure over the next two years in states across the biggest electric grid in the United States.
India is increasingly attracting multinational players, such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS), to invest in the country’s cloud and AI infrastructure. The country’s rapidly growing digital economy, coupled with a large pool of skilled tech talent, has made it an attractive destination for global tech giants looking to expand their presence in the region.
The Google investment is expected to create a significant number of jobs in the region and boost India’s position as a key player in the global AI and cloud computing market.
Read more at CNBC here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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