Visakhapatnam, April 28 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, along with Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnaw, laid the foundation stone for the Google Cloud India AI Hub in Visakhapatnam, marking the beginning of a new era in the stateâ??s technological journey.

Google is going to invest $15 billion in the project, making it one of the largest foreign direct investments (FDIs) in Indiaâ??s history.

The data centre with a total capacity of 1 gigawatt will be developed across nearly 600 acres in Tharluwada, Adavivaram, and Rambilli regions.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Chandrababu Naidu urged Google and its partners in the project, AdaniConneX and Airtel Nxtra, to complete the project for inauguration by September 2028. He assured all the help from the state government for the early completion of the project.

He termed Google's arrival as a game-changer not just for Visakhapatnam, but for the entire state of Andhra Pradesh.

He recalled that 30 years ago, when he laid the foundation for Cyberabad as an IT City, it evolved into a hub for wealth creation.

Stating that this will be the largest data centre in Asia, the Chief Minister said Andhra Pradesh will emerge as the AI data gateway for the nation.

"Google, which began as a search engine, is now transforming into a growth engine for India. While everyone typically searches on Google, in this instance, Google searched and chose Andhra Pradesh," he said.

Naidu stated that Visakhapatnam has all the advantages and termed it the best destination for the mega project. Assuring that there is no shortage of water, he promised to bring water from the Godavari River to the city within 60 days.

He said the government would leverage the Google AI Data Centre to enhance the "Speed of Governance" that the government is committed to delivering.

"In addition to the four secretaries at the CMO, a new AI assistant will now assist me personally in ensuring effective and good governance," he said.

He exuded confidence that with the arrival of Google, the youth of Visakhapatnam will gain access to large-scale employment opportunities.

Chandrababu Naidu also announced that Bhogapuram International Airport will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in July.

The ceremony was attended by Union Ministers Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu, Pemmasani Chandrasekhar, and Bhoopati Raju Srinivasa Varma, state ministers Nara Lokesh, Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy, MP M. Bharat, US Consul General Laura E. Williams, Google Global Infrastructure and Google Cloud Vice President Vikas Kohli, Adani Group Director Jeet Adani, Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd Managing Director Karan Adani, Bharti Enterprises Vice Chairman Rakesh Mittal, and others.

Union Minister Vaishnaw noted that as a country, India missed out on many technology cycles and that the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is that India should take a lead in the new cycle of technologies.

He said while India became the IT services leader thanks to the initiatives in the 1990s and early 2000s, it missed out on manufacturing of semiconductors, servers, laptops, and mobile phones, but the situation has changed over the last one decade with the launch of the Make in India initiative.

From negligible electronic manufacturing, today, the mobile phone has become the single most exported commodity in the country, overtaking gems and jewellery, textiles, and diesel, he said.

Vaishnaw said that the Prime Minister has the vision to make India a major electronic manufacturing hub in the entire world. "In todayâ??s world of geopolitical uncertainties, the world is looking for a trusted partner where IT rights will be protected, and security concerns will be met. This is possible only in India," he said.

All global users of electronics were looking at India as a major sourcing, design, development and manufacturing hub for components, modules, sub-modules, and finished products, he said, urging Google to focus on manufacturing their servers in India. "These data centres require a large number of servers. We have the capability of manufacturing servers. At least five companies are manufacturing high-quality servers in India."

He urged the industry to collaborate in the AI Mission in improving power efficiency and also the efficiency in water consumption.

The central minister thanked Google for three sub-sea cables, which will land in Vizag.

He noted that one cable will go to Australia via the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast of the US, the second to the Middle East, Europe and the US, while the third will go to Cape of Good Hope and from there straight to the US.

Google, Global infrastructure, and Google Cloud Vice President Kohli stated that this is Googleâ??s largest commitment to Indiaâ??s digital future. He termed it a foundation step towards realising the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.

This project represents a $15 billion blueprint to deliver a full-stack AI ecosystem, he said, adding that they were proud to bring Googleâ??s best-in-class AI stack to India to help accelerate Indiaâ??s digital transformation.

He noted that this hub includes the America-India connect initiative to deliver high-capacity sub-sea connectivity that India needs to lead the global AI economy

"By establishing Visakhapatnam as an international sub-sea gateway, we will add vital diversity to the existing landings in Mumbai and Chennai, increasing the resilience of Indiaâ??s digital backbone and improving economic security," he added.

/IANS