Key Points
- Google is investing $15 billion over five years to build a new AI data center in India.
- It will be Google’s largest AI hub outside of the United States. The move is the company’s biggest-ever investment in India.
- The announcement comes amid high trade tensions between the U.S. and India.
- The investment highlights India’s critical importance as a growth market for Big Tech.
Google announced on Tuesday that it will invest a massive $15 billion over five years to build a new AI data center in India. The move, which is the company’s biggest-ever investment in the country, comes at a time of high diplomatic tension between New Delhi and Washington over trade and tariffs.
The new data center, to be located in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, will be Google’s “largest AI hub” outside of the United States, according to Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian. “This long-term vision we have is to accelerate India’s own AI mission,” he said at an event in New Delhi.
The investment clearly shows how important India, with its nearly one billion internet users, has become to the world’s biggest tech companies.
Microsoft and Amazon have already poured billions into building their own data centers in the country. Now, Google is making a huge bet on India’s future as a major player in the AI revolution.
The announcement comes at a delicate moment. The U.S. and India are locked in a tense standoff over President Trump’s 50% tariff on Indian goods, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently been urging a boycott of foreign products. However, Indian officials have been privately reassuring U.S. companies that the country remains a friendly place to do business.
