— Photo: Mohssen Assanimoghaddam/dpa
MUMBAI: Alphabet Inc’s Google is expected to boost its investment in Andhra Pradesh beyond US$15bil after five years, according to the leader of the southern Indian state.
Speaking in an interview on Saturday in the port city of Visakhapatnam, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the US-based company’s plans to build a data centre in the state is “to start with.”
Asked if Google would look to double its investment after the initial five-year period, he said: “It is always an opportunity under their compulsions.”
“It is a win-win situation to start with US$15bil within five years,” Naidu said of Google’s plans. He added that Andhra Pradesh has commitments to build 5.5GW of data centres from companies including Reliance Industries Ltd.
That will go along with plans to ramp up green energy production, he said.
“This data flow is cost-effective compared to consumption of power,” Naidu said. “Now everybody is coming to Andhra Pradesh. It is going to become a global hub for data centres.”
Google last month announced the data centre in Visakhapatnam linked to new energy sources and a fibre-optic network. Indian tycoon Gautam Adani said his company AdaniConneX would partner with Google, along with Bharti Airtel, the country’s No 2 wireless carrier. — Bloomberg
