Google's $15 Billion Vizag AI Hub Meets a Moratorium Demand -- and Google Still Won't Disclose the Site's Power Draw

The reports, all dated October 11, 2026, describe construction across more than 600 acres on three sites in and around Visakhapatnam (Vizag) in Andhra Pradesh. Google is building with India's Adani Group, according to CBC. The hub is due to operate in 2028.

The case for and against

State and national leaders frame it as strategic. "Having AI data centres is something I think India must do," Vizag MP Sribharat Mathukumilli told CBC, calling it "an ecosystem play." CBC reports that the state offered land discounts and ten years of concessions on water and electricity tariffs. The Andhra Pradesh government told AFP it expects "188,000 direct and indirect jobs"; CBC cites a government figure of up to 150,000 indirect jobs. Google projects about US$688 million a year in local economic activity and around 4,200 construction workers a year, followed by "hundreds" of specialist roles once the hub is running.

Opponents dispute the trade. Activists are demanding a moratorium on new data centres across the state "until independent environmental and social impact evaluations are published," AFP reports. "We need mass employment and labour-intensive industries, not high-capital industries," Gutta Rohith of the campaign group Human Rights Forum told AFP. Organiser Deeksha Vanguru told CBC the boom "doesn't look more than a real estate project." CBC also reports that Meta recently blocked the Stop Dirty Data Centres campaign's Instagram account under India's IT rules. Farmers who sold land describe pressure and loss: "Our land is gone, and that land was our livelihood," one told CBC.

What Google says

Alexander Smith, Google's head of infrastructure and energy for Asia-Pacific, told AFP that its water assessment "pointed to pressure on the local watershed," which led it to choose "advanced air cooling." He said independent assessments covering "grid stability, power supply, water risk, ecology, acoustics and more" are done 12 to 24 months before a project begins, and that if operating would mean "taking power away from a community, Google will either find ways to develop more power, or it will not build there." Google "fully funds the cost of required power infrastructure upgrades," he said. But, AFP notes, Google "does not disclose site-level capacity figures for power."

The context is a drought year. CBC reports a weak monsoon and a receding municipal reservoir, and AFP notes the state plans six 1.2-gigawatt nuclear plants as demand rises. A Finnish authority recently halted work on two Google sites pending mandatory environmental assessments.

What remains uncertain. Whether Andhra Pradesh will publish the assessments Google cites, and how the state will weigh a moratorium demand against its investment pitch.

Analysis: India's AI compute plans depend on hubs like this one, and on public consent for them. Google's own quote shows the gap: the company runs detailed assessments but publishes neither them nor site power figures, so residents are asked to trust assurances they cannot check. Publishing the assessments and the site's power draw would cost little and answer the moratorium demand with evidence, not promises. Other AI infrastructure builders in India will face the same question.