A once-sleepy port destination has suddenly found itself at the center of India’s larger quandary over artificial intelligence, where many people question official enthusiasm over their city becoming the country’s data capital.
Visitors coming to the village of Tarluvada on the edges of Visakhapatnam city, on India’s southern coast, are greeted by a huge billboard with the faces of more than a dozen national and local politicians, declaring in bold colors: “Welcome, Google, Welcome!”
At the foot of a lush hill beyond, excavators flattened ground last month in preparation for a one-gigawatt data center that is part of Google’s $15 billion project here. The American tech giant is partnering with a billionaire ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government sees data centers as essential to securing India’s place in the global build-out for the A.I. age.
Officials hope the investment in data centers will spur development and more foreign investment, according to Nara Lokesh, the information technology minister of the surrounding state of Andhra Pradesh, whose face is among those beaming from the welcome poster alongside Mr. Modi.
“For me, it’s not merely about the data center,” Mr. Lokesh said. “So the power electronics, the air conditioning, the building materials guy, the whole nine yards. We are now bringing all of them to my state to do the manufacturing.”
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