What is Google’s US$6bn Indian Renewable Energy Data Centre?

Google plans to build a 1 GW hyperscale data centre campus in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, with a US$6bn investment, according to Reuters, citing local government sources.

The project includes US$2bn allocated specifically for renewable energy development, anchoring the facility’s sustainability strategy.

This development would represent Google’s largest infrastructure project in Asia so far and forms part of a broader US$75bn global data centre expansion for 2025.

It also underscores Google's approach to decarbonising its operations as it seeks to deliver cloud and AI services in high-growth regions.

A 1GW campus at the heart of Google's India push

At 1GW of projected IT capacity, the proposed site in Visakhapatnam would become the largest data centre in India by both energy capacity and capital investment.

The US$6bn commitment is aimed at supporting the company’s growing need for AI-ready compute and storage, as well as providing back-end capacity for products such as Search, YouTube and Android.

The facility will serve as a regional base for Google Cloud operations and is designed to meet rising demand for enterprise services across the Asia-Pacific.

Alongside similar infrastructure upgrades in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, the new build marks a strategic effort to increase data availability and service performance throughout Southeast Asia.

In addition to supporting Google Cloud customers, the data centre is expected to offer distributed workloads, cloud-native services and infrastructure resiliency across sectors including finance, media and government.

According to reports, the site also aligns with India’s east coast growth corridor and complements broader infrastructure upgrades being made by the company across the country, including its sovereign cloud and subsea cable deployments.

Renewable energy investment part of carbon-free commitment

Of the total project budget, US$2bn is earmarked for renewable energy.

The funding will support clean energy sources to power the campus, helping to minimise emissions while also contributing to India’s sustainable energy transition.

The focus on low-carbon operations reflects Google’s global goal of running its data centres on 24/7 carbon-free energy.

Energy sourcing and grid resilience are likely to play a key role in the facility’s site design and construction timeline.

By integrating renewable energy directly into the build, Google aims to reduce the environmental impact of one of its most resource-intensive operations.

The company's sustainability goals, particularly in power-intensive infrastructure like hyperscale data centres, rely on strong regional energy partnerships and access to renewable generation.

This facility provides a case study in how those targets are being applied in developing digital markets.

The move also supports broader environmental goals in India, where the government has set targets to increase the share of renewables in the national power mix and scale low-carbon infrastructure across key sectors, including ICT.

Local infrastructure aligned with sovereign cloud and cable build

This is not Google’s first footprint in India’s digital infrastructure.

Since launching its first cloud region in Mumbai in 2017 and adding a second in Delhi in 2021, the company has been steadily expanding its capabilities.

However, the Visakhapatnam site will be the first hyperscale facility built by Google in the country.

The campus is designed to offer improved availability, reduced latency and higher service resilience for both enterprise and public sector users.

It also strengthens the company’s commitment to India’s regulatory landscape, particularly through its sovereign AI cloud initiative developed with Airtel Business.

This service will be hosted entirely within India to support sensitive workloads from government and regulated industries.

Connectivity is another priority.

The Visakhapatnam data centre will link into Google’s subsea cable system, Blue Raman, which includes a landing station in Mumbai scheduled to go live by the fourth quarter of 2025.

This system will enhance international bandwidth and cross-region failover capabilities, critical for cloud-scale operations.

All of this contributes to Google’s long-term strategy in India, following its US$10bn investment pledge made in 2020.

That included support for digital infrastructure, a US$4.5bn partnership with Reliance Jio and programmes aimed at expanding smartphone access.

As AI services expand and more data regulations emerge, the need for secure, resilient and low-carbon digital infrastructure continues to grow.

This new facility in Visakhapatnam shows how that need is being met with both scale and sustainability in mind.