This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Alphabet (GOOGL, Financials) is putting $10 billion into a massive new data center hub in India, underscoring how central the country has become to the company’s global strategy.
The project, located in Andhra Pradesh, will include three campuses in Adavivaram, Tarluvada, and Rambilli. Once complete, it will provide about 1 gigawatt of computing capacity and form the backbone of what Google calls India’s first international AI Infrastructure Hub.
Before building can start, the Andhra Pradesh State Investment Promotion Board still needs to give its approval. Next week, Google executives will go to New Delhi to meet with state officials and sign the contract.The company says the project will also include major upgrades to India’s digital backbone new submarine cables, cable landing stations, and fiber networks aimed at speeding up internet connections and supporting local research and businesses.
Big tech companies from around the world are doing the same thing in India. Amazon (AMZN) is spending $8.2 billion to make its cloud network bigger, and Microsoft (MSFT) is spending $3 billion to make its Azure platform bigger. OpenAI is also looking at working with local businesses to build additional AI data centers.
Analysts remain positive on Alphabet’s outlook. The stock carries a Strong Buy rating with an average price target of $247.06. Shares are up about 30% this year.
If approved, the Andhra Pradesh project will be Google’s biggest infrastructure investment in India and a major step in turning the country into an AI hub for the region.
