With Rs 6 lakh cr investment, Vizag set to be India’s data centre capital

Vijayawada: Visakhapatnam is positioning itself as more than just a data centre hub, with the Andhra Pradesh govt planning to build a full-stack digital ecosystem here — from hyperscale data centres to local manufacturing of critical components. This will mark a shift from infrastructure to integrated tech manufacturing.In fact, a massive Rs 6.32 lakh in investments is expected to flow into just data centre projects in Visakhapatnam over the next few years. Once all the proposed projects are launched, Visakhapatnam will host more data centres than the entire country put together.According to data compiled by the Andhra Pradesh govt, India's total installed capacity in data centres at present is 1.7 GW. The state govt has targeted 6 GW capacity in the coastal city. While Google has already broken ground for its 1 GW data centre, it is planning 0.5 GW more in the future. Effectively, 25% of the target would be achieved in just one project.Besides Google, Reliance Industries has also committed to setting up another Rs 1.5 GW here. Bharti Airtel, which is already in collaboration with Google in the data centre project, is also planning its own facility with the same scale and size. A senior executive of Bharti Airtel met chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday to discuss the project. Sources said that Naidu asked the company to come up with a detailed proposal.With companies like BAM DLR Data Center Services, Tata Data Center, Sify, HyperNext, RackBank CtrlS, and AI Algo proposing data centres, the total capacity is likely to exceed the target. The ecosystem that the govt seeks to build here would include companies that manufacture racks, cooling systems, electrical transformers, chips and other components.Speaking to TOI, minister for IT and electronics, Nara Lokesh, said, "From component manufacturing to downstream industries, Andhra Pradesh will anchor the entire value chain, ensuring resilience, innovation and large-scale job creation. I had a conversation with Google when I visited them last year in the US. I am happy Google has taken the initiative in putting this together."