Google eyes Visakhapatnam for data center clusters

If everything goes according to the plans of the Andhra Pradesh government and Google, about 639 acres of land in Visakhapatnam and Anakapalli districts will house three campuses of Google for a one gigawatt (1GW) data center cluster with an investment of $10 billion, by 2028-30.

According to reliable sources, the sites are 308 acres at Tarluvada adjacent to the National Highway-16 near Anandapuram Junction on the Bhogapuram International Airport Road, 150 acres at Adavivaram near Simhachalam in Visakhapatnam city limits and 181 acres at Rambilli in Anakapalli district.

According to sources in the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Minister for Information Technology and Electronics Nara Lokesh will be visiting New Delhi on October 14, where he will meet Google executives and may finalise an agreement with Google and one or two of its subsidiaries.

“Mr. Lokesh is visiting Visakhapatnam on October 12 where he will have an internal meeting with the team. He will then leave for Vijayawada either on October 12 or 13, but he is scheduled to leave for New Delhi from Vijayawada on October 13 night. He will be in New Delhi on October 14,” a TDP senior leader told The Hindu.

However, the establishment of these three clusters will require huge power supply, at least 2500MW of power per day is required, millions of gallons of water, for cooling purpose, and high capacity submarine cables and fiber lines.

“The power requirement is huge and it is a challenge. Apart from this, ensuring supply of million gallons of water is also a big task. Moreover, laying of submarine cables are another big challenge. However, if this project is executed properly, it will be a game changer for Visakhapatnam and Andhra Pradesh. This project will become Google’s largest direct investment in India’s digital economy,” a top IT entrepreneur told The Hindu, on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Anakapalli Collector Vijaya Krishnan told The Hindu, “The Google team has visited the Rambilli site once or twice earlier this year. A total of 181 acres of land has been earmarked at Rambilli in our district for Google. The Special Investment Board has also approved it recently, and it may be presented in the Cabinet by this week.”