Google Faces Backlash Against India Data Center
The hub is expected to generate $688 million a year in local activity and 4,200 construction jobs, while critics warn of water strain.
- On India's southeast coast, Google has begun construction on a $15 billion AI data centre hub spanning over 600 acres in Visakhapatnam, the tech giant's largest facility outside the United States.
- To attract the investment, Andhra Pradesh officials offered land discounts and tax concessions for ten years, while Vizag's role as a strategic landing point for submarine cables connecting to Singapore, Australia, and South Africa proved ideal for the project.
- Villagers, including farmer Chandala Sadamma, have protested under the "Stop Dirty Data Centres" campaign, citing concerns over land acquisition and water scarcity. Sadamma stated, "I feel like crying" seeing her two-acre plot cleared.
- Google responded by committing to "advanced" air cooling technology instead of water cooling, with Alexander Smith, Google's head of infrastructure and energy for Asia-Pacific, stating the facility will generate $688 million in local economic activity annually once operational in 2028.
- Despite India generating nearly a fifth of global digital data, the country holds only about three percent of global data-centre capacity, positioning the Vizag project within a broader boom in power-hungry AI infrastructure worldwide.
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25 Articles
Google defends $15 billion Vizag AI hub as water fears, land disputes and protests put project under scrutiny
Google says its $15 billion Visakhapatnam AI hub will use air cooling to limit water consumption, but protests over land acquisition, environmental risks and employment persist. The facility is expected to become operational in 2028.
The protesters opposed data centers.
The data do not drink, says a poster. In another, Google's logo appears handcuffed. In the Gulf of Bengal, in India, the environmental opposition to the mega-data center that the American technology giant intends to install in the region to feed its artificial intelligence systems (IA). Microsoft's co-founder: Cyberattacks are the main risk of AI today, says Bill Gates His food will be delivered by a robot. If it is not destroyed before The city…
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