Google@Vizag: A game changer for Andhra Pradesh

TheGovernment of Andhra Pradesh and Google signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the world’s largest AI hub outside of the US on October 14 has expectedly created a buzz across the international media.

The Indian media has also extensively covered and celebrated the development.

Ironically, this comes at a time when US President Donald Trump has been advising American companies to invest domestically, and in the backdrop of the recent friction in trade and diplomatic relations between India and the US.

The MoU includes $15 billion in investment for the next five years to build a massive data centre with one Gigawatt capacity that is open to an increase in the future in partnership with Adani Group and Bharti Airtel. The data centre is powered by 80 per cent clean energy. The project also aims to construct a new international subsea gateway.

This subsea cable network is to be integrated into Google’s global subsea network, connecting multiple regions and providing a boost to the country’s digital technology. This network will help in connecting the data centre with Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and 12 other countries. The AI data centre will also boost growth across sectors, including education, agriculture and health care.

It all started in the 1990s when Nara Chandrababu Naidu was the Chief Minister of the undivided Andhra Pradesh. Naidu took it upon himself to think ahead of his time and invited tech giants like Microsoft to Hyderabad and concomitantly provided necessary incentives and infrastructure facilities for tech growth. At that time his critiques came down harshly against him saying that he was building castles in the air and technology alone doesn’t give food. Today, Cyberabad, home to several tech companies with employees from all over the world working there, is an envious global tech-hub. Nearly three decades have passed since then and several changes have occurred in these years as regards economic, political and cultural segments along with a simultaneous progress of technology. In the meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated. Poverty has reduced, thereby giving rise to a large section of the middle class. Unlike the traditional middle class, the present middle class is techno-driven given the urban upbringing. They are not afraid to dream big and take big risks. As a result, the ambitions and aspirations of the contemporary middle class are mounting pressure on the policy makers to act towards fulfilling their aspirations.

Being a pioneer in pitching for investments in general and tech-based investments in particular, Chandrababu Naidu is aware about future growth prospects if the investments are right. After returning to power in 2024, Nara Lokesh, IT Minister for Andhra Pradesh, travelled to the US in the same year and met Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurien and invited Google to set up its data centre in Visakhapatnam. After several back-and-forth communications, Andhra Pradesh was able to seal the MoU with Google Cloud on a historic October 14 in New Delhi. Immediately, after the MoU was signed, Indian media celebrated the event, which led to a widespread favourable public opinion for the Naidu-led Andhra Pradesh, while simultaneously criticizing their own state governments for their inability to bring tech giants like Google to their State. As for social media, it went on a rampage.

The opposition AIADMK has raised the issue in Tamil Nadu Assembly and strongly attacked the DMK-led government asking why the Google project was allowed to go to Andhra Pradesh despite Google CEO Sundar Pichai being a Tamilian. Similarly, in Karnataka the Congress-led government too came under severe fire. Though IT Minister Priyank Kharge attacked the Andhra Pradesh Government for providing incentives at the cost of State’s deficit budget, public opinion largely criticised Kharge and celebrated the accomplishments of Lokesh that included bringing Google to Vizag. While the nation is celebrating Google coming to Vizag, within Andhra Pradesh the opposition YSRCP continues to blame Lokesh for the huge incentives being doled out to Google. They seem oblivious that the fruits of such incentives can be realized only after a decade or so.

History will judge Google’s investment as the game changer for Andhra Pradesh. It is high time that political parties, both ruling and opposition, work in tandem so as to garner investments and thereby jobs.

As mentioned earlier, the contemporary middle class has evolved and is not complacent in realizing its aspirations. They are putting pressure on policymakers to deliver in general and more particularly in the context of investments and creation of jobs. A healthy competition among states augurs well for the nation, provided politicians and policymakers wake up to the changing aspirations of the public and deliver accordingly.