New Delhi: Union Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw welcomed Google’s $15 billion investment to establish a data centre and artificial intelligence (AI) hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, calling it a landmark move that will accelerate the IndiaAI Mission and strengthen India’s digital infrastructure.
“This digital infrastructure will go a long way in meeting the goals of our IndiaAI mission,” Vaishnaw said, thanking Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian for the announcement. He credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his vision of integrating technology into every aspect of life and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu for his consistent push for technology and rapid execution.
“Both the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister never get satisfied. Whatever we do, they set up totally new standards, and that’s the way our country will be built towards the developed nation status,” he remarked.
Vaishnaw also expressed gratitude to the Finance Minister for strong policy support in enabling data centre growth in India, noting that such initiatives are key to achieving the country’s long-term AI goals.
The minister said the AI hub will be a crucial contributor to India’s AI mission across four major areas – skilling, connectivity through Andaman, the Vizag–Sittwe cable link, and talent development.
Reskilling the IT Workforce
Calling AI a “fundamental change in the way the world moves today,” Vaishnaw emphasised the urgent need for large-scale reskilling and upskilling of IT professionals.
“It’s very important for all of us, especially the industry, to reskill and upskill our IT professionals in a major way—not at a very small scale, but at a very, very major, rapid scale,” he said. He urged Google to make AI skilling and reskilling a major part of its agenda in India, noting that the transformation must occur at an unprecedented pace to prepare the workforce for AI-driven opportunities.
Andaman as a Global Internet Data Transfer Hub
Vaishnaw proposed that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands be developed into the next big hub for global internet data transfer, citing Singapore’s current bandwidth saturation.
“Andaman is a very strategic location. Singapore is today all choked. Why can’t we make Andaman the next big hub for global internet data transfer?” he said, assuring Google that the Government of India will provide full support to realise this vision.
Vizag–Sittwe Cable Link for Northeast Connectivity
The minister also requested Google to explore establishing an undersea cable link between Visakhapatnam and Sittwe in Myanmar, which would extend connectivity to India’s northeastern states.
“I’ll also make a request: please create a link from Vizag to Sittwe in Myanmar so that we can extend the cable up to the northeastern states, as these states require much better connectivity. The current connectivity provided through the railway networks and the RailTel network requires significant augmentation. If you can extend it via Myanmar to Mizoram – the railway line up to Sairang in Mizoram is already completed – the Hon’ble Prime Minister has directed us to extend that line all the way to the Myanmar border,” he stated.
AI Services and Talent Development
Vaishnaw highlighted that AI services are emerging as a major new category in the digital economy and the Visakhapatnam facility could play a key role in nurturing AI-related talent and employment. “Can we use this facility for developing the talent, developing the employment potential, for developing our youth for AI services as a totally new category of digital economy?” he asked, emphasising the need to align AI infrastructure with youth-oriented growth.
While it was confirmed by the Google Cloud CEO that a significant portion of Google’s new AI compute infrastructure will be integrated with the common compute facility under the IndiaAI Mission, Vaishnaw said, “We welcome your TPUs (Tensor Processing Units) to compete with Nvidia’s GPUs. So we would really look forward to you joining the common compute facility”.
Concluding his remarks, Vaishnaw said India must now replicate its IT success story in the field of AI. “Just as India made a strong presence in the IT world, we have to now make a similar presence in the AI world,” he stated, adding that the Visakhapatnam hub will help prepare the country’s youth and startups for global AI opportunities.
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