From ancient trade gateway to AI capital: Lokesh says Vizag set for reinvention

Visakhapatnam: Across the world, from Virginia to Dublin, we have seen the impact that data centres have had on the entire ecosystem. So, we as a state do not merely look at the Google data centre as a $15 billion investment, but we believe it is an investment in a robust ecosystem, and the beginning of a wonderful journey," said Andhra Pradesh IT and HRD minister Nara Lokesh. Speaking at the Bharat AI Shakti Conclave, hosted by Google in partnership with the Andhra Pradesh government in Visakhapatnam on Tuesday, Lokesh said the world is changing from heavy industries to digital infrastructure, from manufacturing to machine intelligence, and Visakhapatnam is again evolving in this journey."Being the India's single largest FDI investment ever, this is not incremental growth. But rather, we believe it is transformational in scale for Visakhapatnam. For the first time, Vizag will have a subsea cable landing station. We will be competing with other states in terms of connectivity. And just as ports have connected this great city to the rest of the world right from ancident times, these cable landing stations will digitally connect Visakhapatnam to the rest of the globe. This investment will create close to two lakh direct and indirect jobs for us here in Visakhapatnam, and new industries will rise around this entire ecosystem. It is not merely a project for us. We, as a state, see it as an economic multiplier. Visakhapatnam is going to be the epicentre of economic growth for Andhra Pradesh. And this transformation in the region will be led by AI, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing.What took Hyderabad 30 years, we intend to achieve in the next decade in Visakhapatnam. With industry, geography, and policy stability, I believe we can deliver history together and leave a legacy. So it is not merely about Google building a data centre here. It is about what it takes to build a data centre, maintain it, and also build the economic rigour that is required to sustain and use this platform as a springboard for growth. And that is what excites us here in Visakhapatnam," added Lokesh. The Conclave served as a platform for convening suppliers, industry partners, and infrastructure stakeholders to explore how to translate and accelerate Google's anchor investment into a tangible economic value chain for the region. Themed 'Collaborating to Deliver India's AI Corridor,' the conclave highlighted that Google's investment in Visakhapatnam is designed not only to build world-class infrastructure, but to catalyse a broader technology ecosystem that multiplies the benefits to the local economy.