A quiet stretch of Andhra Pradesh's coastline is now attracting some of the biggest names in technology.Google is investing $15 billion. Reliance-backed Digital Connexion has announced plans worth billions more. It has reportedly unveiled a Rs 98,000 crore (about $11 billion) AI infrastructure plan, while Meta is also said to be planning a significant presence in the city — all pointing to an unlikely destination for India's next AI infrastructure boom: Visakhapatnam (Vizag).What was once primarily known as a port city is now being seen as the foundation of a new kind of technology ecosystem: one built around data centres, subsea cables, power infrastructure and the computing capacity required to power artificial intelligence.Google, which recently announced its multi-billion-dollar AI Hub in Visakhapatnam, said the city offers a rare combination of connectivity, clean energy potential and industrial capabilities that make it uniquely suited for the next phase of AI-driven growth."Visakhapatnam has an extensive coastline that presents India with a distinct opportunity to strengthen the country's connectivity and digital resilience. It also has significant potential for new clean energy, an established industrial supply chain, and a talented local workforce," Alexander Smith, Principal, Global Infrastructure and Energy, Asia Pacific, Google, told ET Online in an emailed response."These strengths led us to see the shared opportunities for growth in Visakhapatnam and gave us confidence to apply principles of responsible AI infrastructure development in partnership with local industry and governments—in a way that both advances the region's economic growth trajectory and meets Google's global operational requirements," he added.Google is not alone in expanding its footprint in the city. Digital Connexion, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Brookfield and Digital Realty, has also announced plans to invest Rs 98,000 crore by 2030 to establish a 1 GW AI-native data centre cluster across 400 acres in Visakhapatnam, ET had reported in November 2025.The proposed campus is expected to feature high-density AI compute infrastructure, advanced liquid-cooling technology and dedicated renewable energy support, underscoring Vizag's emergence as a next-generation AI infrastructure hub.ET had also reported last November that Meta was planning a significant AI infrastructure presence in Visakhapatnam by leasing capacity at a proposed 500 MW hyperscale data centre being developed by Sify Technologies. The report said the facility would support Meta's Waterworth subsea cable project, with the cable expected to land at Sify's cable landing station in the city, further strengthening Vizag's role as a global digital connectivity hub.Meta and Reliance Industries had not yet responded to ET Online's request for comments at the time of this report's publication.Google's vision for Visakhapatnam extends far beyond a conventional data centre campus.The company sees the city emerging as a critical connectivity gateway linking India to global AI networks through a combination of subsea and terrestrial cable infrastructure.Through its America-India Connect initiative, Google plans to establish subsea routes connecting Visakhapatnam with Singapore, South Africa and Australia while also creating direct fibre connectivity to Chennai and Mumbai.The objective, according to the company, is to turn the city into a bi-directional gateway capable of both bringing advanced AI services into India and allowing Indian developers, startups and enterprises to deploy products globally through high-speed digital infrastructure.Google argued that such connectivity will become increasingly important as AI applications demand high-bandwidth, low-latency networks to support services such as Gemini and other frontier AI models. In Google's view, data centres are only one piece of the puzzle; the cables connecting them are equally critical to creating an AI ecosystem.The investment is also tied closely to energy infrastructure.......Read more at:https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/infrastructure/google-ai-hub-visakhapatnam-vizag-ai-capital-india-google-investment-data-centre-adani-meta-reliance-digital-connexion-ai-infrastructure/articleshow/132129427.cms (ICE MUMBAI)

Fonte notizia: The Economic Times