New Delhi, April 28 -- Google has kicked off construction of a $15 billion artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud infrastructure hub in Visakhapatnam, marking one of its largest digital infrastructure bets in India to date.

The project-being developed in partnership with AdaniConneX and Bharti Airtel's data centre arm Nxtra-is aimed at building hyperscale capacity to power next-generation AI workloads, cloud computing, and enterprise applications.

The foundation stone was laid on Tuesday in Andhra Pradesh, underscoring the state's ambitions to position Visakhapatnam as a global AI infrastructure hub amid rising demand for compute capacity.

"Today's groundbreaking is a powerful realization of our shared vision with the Indian government, and an inflection point for the country's AI-native future," said Thomas Kurian, CEO of Google Cloud. "Together we are laying the foundation for Viksit Bharat, and opening new doors for economic opportunity nationwide."

Kurian added that the Google AI hub will serve as a critical backbone for scaling AI innovation across sectors, from startups to large enterprises.

Industry partnerships remain central to the buildout. "Through our strategic partnership with Google and Adani to build this landmark AI hub, we will help advance India's digital ambitions," said Gopal Vittal, executive vice chairman at Bharti Airtel.

"With Visakhapatnam emerging as a new hub on the world's AI map, we will ensure that India sets the pace for innovation, and sustainable growth, not just for our people, but for the whole world," Vittal said, adding that Airtel's stack-including green-powered data centres, ultra-low latency fibre, and a next-generation cable landing station-will underpin large-scale AI infrastructure in the region.

The investment is among the largest in India's data centre and AI ecosystem and reflects a broader shift, with global technology firms increasingly partnering with local infrastructure and telecom players to build capacity for AI-led growth.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from TechCircle.