Google is reportedly set to invest $10 billion to establish a 1-gigawatt (GW) data centre cluster in Visakhapatnam, marking its first such large-scale investment in India. The agreement is expected to be finalised on October 14 between Google’s top executives and Andhra Pradesh IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh in New Delhi.

The ambitious project—spanning three campuses across Adavivaram, Tarluvada, and Rambilli—is slated to become operational by July 2028, forming a key component of India’s first international AI infrastructure hub. Once approved, the project will rank among the most significant foreign direct investments in India’s digital economy.

Construction of the cluster will involve the installation and landing of three high-capacity submarine cables, the setting up of dedicated cable landing stations, high-capacity metro fibre lines, and telecommunications infrastructure.

The Andhra Pradesh State Investment Promotion Board, chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, is expected to clear the investment proposal on Wednesday. This project is set to become Google’s largest-ever direct investment in India’s digital economy.

Naidu had earlier proposed amendments to the Information Technology Act and Copyright Act to encourage the development of data cities. Following this, the Centre circulated a draft policy to provide a framework for data centres.

Google’s Asia-Pacific team had visited Visakhapatnam in May this year, with Lokesh personally escorting them to inspect various potential sites. The proposed data centre cluster will form part of India’s first international AI infrastructure hub — a large digital infrastructure region concentrated within a specific geographical zone.

Currently, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google together account for about 30 per cent of India’s data centre demand, a share projected to increase to 35 per cent, according to property consultancy Anarock Capital.

Earlier, Alok Bajpai, managing director of India for NTT Global Data Centers, said that orders from major technology firms for ‘hyperscalers’ were still pending, as the companies were holding off on signing them for now. Hyperscalers operate massive data centres engineered for extreme scalability to handle large-scale workloads.