Google CEO Sunder Pichai speaks to PM Modi, shares details of USD 15bn AI hub investment in Vishakhapatnam

Pichai said he discussed the project with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and highlighted how it will help accelerate AI innovation and support India''s growing digital economy.

In a post on social media, Pichai said, "Great to speak with India PM @narendramodi @OfficialINDIAai to share our plans for the first-ever Google AI hub in Visakhapatnam, a landmark development."

"This hub combines gigawatt-scale compute capacity, a new international subsea gateway, and large-scale energy infrastructure. Through it we will bring our industry-leading technology to enterprises and users in India, accelerating AI innovation and driving growth across the country," he added.

Google on Tuesday announced a massive investment of USD 15 billion over the next five years to establish one gigawatt-scale Artificial Intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, the company''s largest AI hub outside the United States.

The announcement came during ''Bharat AI Shakti'', an event hosted by Google in New Delhi.

The latest Vishakhapatnam AI hub will be connected to the global network of Google, highlighted Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud.

He also shared that ''Andhra Pradesh AI hub'' is set to become Google''s largest AI hub outside the United States, with the company announcing a USD 15 billion investment over the next five years.

"We will bring our subsea cable infrastructure here and connect it to our global network. This will not only act as a landing station for numerous cables but also provide a digital backbone connecting different parts of India. We are not just bringing AI technology, but also a digital infrastructure through our subsea cable and network connectivity hub," he added.

He also shared that the new gigawatt-scale hub will be part of Google''s global network of AI centers spanning 12 countries.

Speaking at the announcement event, Kurian highlighted Google''s deep roots in India. "It''s the largest AI hub that we are going to be investing in anywhere in the world, outside of the U.S. It represents a capital investment over the next five years of USD 15 billion" he said.

He also stated "We are incredibly proud of what today stands for. Google has been in India for a long time. It''s our 21st year here. We have 14,000 people working for us across five locations, and we launched our cloud solutions in India several years ago. We also have two regions, New Delhi and Mumbai, and manufacture our devices here,".

Kurian explained that the Vishakhapatnam hub will scale to multiple gigawatts and serve as a global connectivity centre. (ANI)