Google's Visakhapatnam Grand AI Hub
Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurien has announced that Google will be setting up a 1-gigawatt AI hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. It will be the world's largest AI hub and one of Google's 12 global AI centers.
Kurien added that Google has been present in India for 21 years with 14,000 employees and cloud products in five geographies. It also has a local production base. Google is investing $15 billion in Visakhapatnam over five years with the support of the central government and state government of Andhra Pradesh. The campus will ultimately scale to multi-gigawatt capacity and will be the biggest Google AI center outside the US.
Global Connectivity and Indian Digital Services
Kurien also added that Visakhapatnam will be a center of global connectivity. Google is bringing subsea cables to the city in order to connect India to the global network of cables. This infrastructure will provide the digital foundation of delivery of services in the country.
From this AI center of excellence, Google will run all core services such as Search, YouTube, Gmail, and advertising from India. Kurien stressed that the hub would couple AI technology with digital infrastructure to support entrepreneurs, startups, and businesses.
Enabling India's AI Mission and Skill Development
Google's AI efforts in India are in line with the central government's AI Mission. The tech giant will provide skill training and capacity-building courses to equip Indian youth with AI technologies.
Kurien emphasized that this hub would be beneficial not just for India but for Asia and other parts of the world as well. He labeled the launch a milestone for Google and a move towards India's "Viksit Bharat 2047" vision.
Government Leaders on India's AI Vision
Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw
Vaishnaw expressed gratitude to Google for the $15 billion investment, citing that it will enhance India's digital ecosystem and help with the Bharat AI Mission. He highlighted that while AI would transform the nature of work, upskilling and reskilling would remain necessary. He urged Google to give this top priority in its endeavors.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman
Sitharaman said that the Visakhapatnam AI hub and cable landing projects show how progressive policy and administration can produce strong results. She credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership since 2014 and Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s experience in the IT sector for enabling this milestone. She emphasized that policy-driven innovation is key to achieving the Viksit Bharat 2047 goal.
Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s Vision for AI in AP
Naidu appreciated Central ministers and Prime Minister Modi for their backing of Google's presence in Andhra Pradesh. Naidu remembered to have spurred the IT development of Hyderabad through Hi-Tech City during the late 1990s and spoke of Visakhapatnam's AI center as another leap of technological advancement.
He believes that AI will revolutionize all the major sectors like education, health, and agriculture, and will help India reach its developmental milestones before 2047. Naidu also said that the next AI conference in India would demonstrate the leadership of the country in this area.
AI for All Sectors: Education to Agriculture
- Kurien stated that AI is already yielding positive outcomes in most sectors.
- Teachers are adopting Google's AI solutions in order to make learning in school easy.
- Physicians in rural areas utilize AI to identify illnesses.
- AI farmers are becoming accessible to farming farmers for details on crop health as well as climatic conditions.
- He further stated that Google's Visakhapatnam AI Hub will make the recent technologies within the reach of the citizens and link India to Asia and the US directly.
Andhra Pradesh's Contribution to India's AI Future
AP IT Minister Nara Lokesh
- Lokesh stated that the project, which was set to be completed within 12 months, had encountered just a delay. He described it as a record partnership between the central and state governments and Google.
- He stressed that data is the new fuel and data centers are the new refineries, and hence Andhra Pradesh becomes a central part of India's digital economy. Lokesh added that AP will be concentrating on transforming education and IT education so that youth are prepared for AI-driven opportunities.
- The Visakhapatnam center will not just be a data center but also a skill center and a financial hub, and it will spur innovation and industry growth.
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