Google Faces Backlash Against India Data Centre
Google says the project will create about 4,200 construction jobs and 188,000 direct and indirect jobs, while activists warn of water and environmental strain.
- On the southeast coast of India, excavators began clearing forest and farmland in Visakhapatnam for Google's $15 billion AI data centre, the tech giant's largest facility outside the United States.
- India rolled out tax cuts and incentives to attract major tech firms, positioning Visakhapatnam's coastline as a strategic landing point for submarine cables linking the country to Singapore, South Africa, and Australia.
- Local activists and residents protest the project, citing water scarcity concerns; one campaign poster warns that people "cannot drink data," demanding a moratorium until independent impact evaluations are published.
- Alexander Smith, Google's head of infrastructure and energy for Asia-Pacific, called the project a "multi-decade commitment" using "advanced" air cooling and projected to generate $688 million in annual local economic activity.
- Beyond Google, a joint venture between Reliance Industries, Brookfield, and Digital Realty is investing $11 billion in a separate Vizag data centre as India seeks to expand its three percent share of global data-centre capacity.
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Power, water, jobs: Google on India data centre concerns
But the tech giant says its "gigawatt-scale" AI facility in southern Andhra Pradesh state -- part of a $15 billion investment -- will use air cooling systems, and not water from an area already facing shortages. Alexander Smith, Google's head of infrastructure and energy for the Asia-Pacific region, answered AFP's questions about the project: How do you view the concerns? Smith said Google takes questions raised by the public seriously. "Indepen…
Protests against the construction of a large-scale artificial intelligence center by Google in Visakhapatnam, India, are intensifying. The posters of the dissatisfied have handcuffs around the company's logo and a warning that "data cannot be drunk," AFP reported. Excavators are already clearing forest lands and farmland along the southeastern coast of the country. The investment is worth $ 15 billion, and the center will be Google's largest out…
The $15 billion Visakhapatnam project – expected to boost India's technological ambitions – faces opposition from locals due to concerns about resources, land, and local economic interests. Google conducts its first AI chip test in Earth orbit. The race to build space data centers among tech giants continues. Amazon will invest $1 billion in locations for data centers in the US.
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