Protests are growing around the $15 billion AI data center Google (GOOGL) is building in Visakhapatnam, in India's Andhra Pradesh state. Residents worry about water, electricity and a thin jobs payoff, according to a wire report carried by Ratopati. It matters because the site is billed as Google's largest data center outside the United States. Google announced the project in October 2025 with partners AdaniConneX and Airtel, putting the investment at about $15 billion over five years.
Land cleared, and a farmer's loss
Forest and farmland are being cleared for the site. Farmer Chandala Sadamma, 50, says red soil now covers the spot where her mango and cashew trees stood. She was paid more than $82,000 for two acres, yet described the experience as bitter, saying the company took the land with no respect and the family simply accepted it. The state says that besides compensation, it is building new housing for affected families.
Water, power and jobs in dispute
Google says the campus will rely on advanced air cooling instead of water. For power, the state has floated six nuclear plants totaling 1.2 gigawatts. That is a proposal, not something built. Locals aren't convinced on water: shopkeeper Gubbula Ramnamma says the city already struggles with shortages, and activist EAS Sharma wants an independent audit of the site's needs.
We have not found an independent engineer or environmental expert who has publicly assessed whether advanced air cooling can work at this scale in Visakhapatnam's hot, humid coastal climate. Air cooling generally cuts water use but can raise electricity demand, and that tradeoff is exactly what residents and Sharma want checked. We have asked Google to explain how the system would perform there and will add its answer if it responds.
The jobs numbers diverge sharply. Google expects about 4,200 construction jobs and hundreds of technical roles once the site opens in 2028, plus $688 million a year in local economic activity. The state estimates 188,000 direct and indirect jobs. That is a gap of roughly 44 times on the construction figure alone, and neither side has published how it got there. We have asked Google and the state government to explain the method behind the 188,000 estimate, including how many of those positions are indirect. Gutta Rohit of the Human Rights Forum argues capital-heavy projects employ few locals, and activists want new data center building paused until an independent environmental and social assessment is published.
Why this city, and what else is coming
Visakhapatnam is where an undersea cable linking India and Singapore comes ashore. A venture of Reliance Industries, Brookfield and Digital Realty plans another $11 billion AI data center there, and local agents say land prices have climbed more than 45 percent since the city's development plan was announced.
India generates about 20 percent of the world's digital data but holds roughly 3 percent of data center capacity, per government data cited in the report. Google's Alexander Smith called the investment a decades-long commitment that will put community interests first.
Watch for three things: a publication date for the independent environmental and social assessment that activists are demanding, whether a water audit is released with actual figures for the site, and whether Google or the state publishes year-by-year job targets that can be checked against the 4,200 and 188,000 claims. So far, none of those has a public deadline.
Sources
- 1.Locals Protest Google · Ratopati
- 2.Google faces backlash against India data centre · France 24 (AFP)
- 3.Google faces backlash against India data center · TechXplore (AFP)
- 4.Adani and Google Partner to Build India's Largest Data Centre Campus in Visakhapatnam · Adani Group
Reported by the WattsUpNext desk from the sources linked below. Spot an error? Tell us at corrections@wattsupnext.com.
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