Techies upbeat at likely change in Vizag face post-Google investment

Visakhapatnam: The announcement by Google CEO Sundar Pitchai that their $15-billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam in partnership with Adani and Airtel will change the face of the city has brought loud cheers among the innovators and investors of Andhra Pradesh.

Incidentally, after signing the MoU in New Delhi in the presence of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, IT and Electronics Minister Nara Lokesh, who played a key role to convince Google to set up their largest-ever investment outside the United States in Visakhapatnam on a mega data center hub by meeting its 80 per cent requirement with clean energy, the city has turned into a largest-ever searched city online. “Our new project will change the face of the coastal city of Vizag,” Pitchai was quoted as saying in a conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at Dreamforce, Salesforce’s high-profile annual technology event.

In a related post on his X handle, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “India’s first Artificial Intelligence Hub being developed in Andhra Pradesh, will benefit the entire world. This project will give Visakhapatnam a new identity as a global AI and Connectivity Hub.’

Incidentally, Linkedin recently put Visakhapatnam on the top spot in its inaugural Cities on the Rise report, which highlighted India’s fastest growing non-metro cities for professional opportunities. The ranking was based on hiring trends, talent inflow and job market expansion.

“Visakhapatnam is one of the fastest growing cities in the world with a very huge potential to emerge as a new destination for global technologies,” said Ravi Eswarapu, CEO of Ratan Tata Innovation Hub (RTIH), Visakhapatnam. He said Google is making such a huge investment in the next five years after a due diligence study and getting 100 per cent convinced on the Return on Investment (RoI). He said the government’s decision to invite anchor investors by doling out sops and allotting land on payment of a token amount has also increased the investment quotient of the city.

Eswarapu, who is also the CEO of A-Hub developed by Andhra University on its campus to encourage startups and to spread innovation culture, told Bizz Buzz that the Google project will have a multiplier effect on the entire region motivating several technology companies and Global Capability Centers to invest in Visakhapatnam due to availability of good talent pool. At the same time, he wanted top priority to improve connectivity issues like completing the work on the metro rail on a fast-track, express highway and operationalising Bhogapuram International Airport. There is also a need to bring about a significant improvement in the social infrastructure to meet the requirements of migration of knowledge workers after big ticket projects take off.

ANSR and Japanese pharma major Eisai have already announced establishing GCCs in the city. In addition to Google, Tata Group is also in talks with the State Government to invest in a one gigawatt data center in the city. Meta, the owner of WhatsApp and Facebook has also chosen Visakhapatnam along with Mumbai to be made landing centres for its multi-continental undersea cable project named ‘Waterworth’ spanning over 50,000 km to build global digital infrastructure and support deployment of AI technologies in a big way costing around $10 billion.

Cognizant Technology Solutions and TCS have been allotted land in the city to set up their campuses on payment of a nominal amount of Re.1 per acre so as to bring more big ticket projects to the city. Minister Nara Lokesh recently indicated that they are in talks with Accenture for allotment of site. Infosys launched its operations on a rented building at Rushikonda and there is buzz that it is also being offered land to establish its permanent technology development center.