“A $15 billion blueprint for a full stack AI ecosystem”: Google’s Bikash Kolay on Vizag AI hub

Google’s $15 billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam is being designed as a foundational piece of India’s digital and AI infrastructure, with Bikash Kolay, Vice President of Global Infrastructure at Google Cloud, calling it “a blueprint for a full-stack AI ecosystem.”

Speaking at the event after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation for the project on April 28, Kolay said the scale and ambition of the facility reflect the growing computational demands of the AI era.

“Today marks Google’s first and largest commitment to India’s digital future, built at a foundational scale for realising the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047,” Kolay said.

“This project represents a $15 billion blueprint to deliver a full-stack AI ecosystem. It is, at its core, a 1-gigawatt-scale campus built for the immense computational demand of the AI era,” he added.

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The hub, spread across 600 acres in Rambilli, Adavivaram, and Tarluvada in Visakhapatnam, is expected to power key Google services, including Gemini and Search, for millions of users across the region.

Kolay positioned the project as more than just a data centre investment, highlighting its role in strengthening India’s digital backbone through global connectivity.

“This is, frankly, more than just moving bits and bytes around. These subsea cables honour a long history of global connection… turning maritime trade routes between the New World and India into digital trade routes,” he said.

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A key part of that strategy is the development of an international subsea cable landing station in Vizag, which Kolay said would introduce “micro-diversity” to India’s network infrastructure. At present, much of India’s international data traffic is concentrated through landing points in Mumbai and Chennai, creating potential bottlenecks.

The project also brings together a consortium of partners including Adani Group, FedEx, Bharti Airtel and Nextera Energy to build supporting infrastructure such as power transmission networks and clean energy capacity.

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Beyond infrastructure, Kolay said the initiative would have a broader economic and talent impact, with plans to train over 125,000 students in cloud and AI skills and upskill more than 1,000 local workers for technical roles.

The company is also working on a watershed master plan aimed at ensuring long-term water security and agricultural resilience in the Visakhapatnam region, tying the project to sustainability goals alongside its core technology ambitions.