Google is making a $15 billion investment to set up a 1-gigawatt data center and AI hub in India, even as the Indian government pushes for reduced reliance on U.S. tech giants.
Google said Tuesday it will invest $15 billion in India over the next five years, as it announced a giant data center and artificial intelligence base in the country.
Google will spend $15 billion over the next five years to build a vast artificial intelligence data centre in India's southern state of Andhra Pradesh, marking its largest-ever investment in the country. The new facility, to be built in the port city of Visakhapatnam, will start with one gigawatt of capacity and eventually expand to several times that size.
The deal — to be signed Tuesday — comes after "a year of intense discussions and relentless effort," and "is just the beginning," said Minister for Human Resources Development of Andhra Pradesh. Tech companies have been heavily investing in data centers to meet the computational needs of the AI boom.
Google's investment in South Carolina will go toward scaling up its Berkeley County data center campus, supporting construction, energy affordability and workforce training programs.
Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) third-quarter update later this month is shaping up to be another test of how fast the tech giant can turn its artificial intelligence ambitions into hard cash. Citi expects the numbers on October 29 to beat Wall Street's forecasts, helped by steady advertising growth and strong demand for Google Cloud services.
Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL has reasserted its dominance in the global technology landscape, emerging from a period of competitive and regulatory turbulence stronger than ever.
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The United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Friday designated Google with a special status in the market for online search that would enable the regulator to enforce stricter regulations.
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