Stone laid for Carrier’s global manufacturing unit at Sri City

Tirupati: At a time when there is a proposal to pre-fix the minimum temperature in air conditioners at 24 degrees C to save on energy consumption, state HRD minister Nara Lokesh on Wednesday shared a personal note stating that his father and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu preferred maintaining his room at 17 degrees C. The proposal by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, was however, met with mixed reactions, some supporting the move and others opposing it as the day temperatures have been rising by the year.Lokesh was addressing a meeting after laying foundation stone for Carrier Global Corporation's manufacturing unit at Sri City near here. Lokesh said his first air conditioner was from Carrier. Adding a witty touch, Lokesh remarked that Chandrababu Naidu preferred maintaining his room at a cool 17 degrees C, now powered by Carrier ACs, drawing smiles at the event.Carrier Global Corporation is setting up a plant at a cost of ₹1000 cr to manufacture chillers.He said Andhra Pradesh will lead from the front in the global race for data centres and artificial intelligence."We are not just building data centres, but their entire ecosystem. The data centres require advanced cooling systems, high-efficiency chillers, power electronics and precision manufacturing, making it essential to build a strong supporting ecosystem," Lokesh observed.While welcoming Carrier Global for choosing Andhra Pradesh and Sri City as part of this broader vision, he called it a step towards strengthening the state's digital and industrial growth.The IT minister highlighted that the future belonged to ecosystems and cluster-based development, pointing to the emergence of space city, data centre hub, AC manufacturing cluster, glass cluster and renewable energy cluster among the 22 emerging cluster hubs in the state. All stakeholders contributing to the end product – from gas and components to full-scale manufacturing – will be involved in this vertical integration. At the same time, he also highlighted the importance of horizontal integration, especially in terms of human resources, with a focus on skilling, testing and certification.‘Naipunyam' soonLokesh also announced the launch of ‘Naipunyam', a conversational AI-powered skill assessment platform, aimed at making the youth job-ready and inviting industry collaboration.The minister appealed to industry partners to be part of Andhra Pradesh's growth story, stating that tightly integrated clusters would be key to manufacturing success.Carrier's global leadership, including David L Gitlin, Michael L Gierges and Sundaresan Narayanan, attended alongside Srini Raju and Dr Ravindra Sannareddy, marking a landmark investment.