Google Defends Its $15 Billion India AI Hub as Water Fears Grow

Google is building its largest data centre outside the United States on the southeast coast of India, and the people who live nearby are not sold on it. The $15 billion AI hub in Visakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh, is under construction and facing sustained local opposition, with most of the anger pointed at one thing: water.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. Visakhapatnam takes in about 410 million litres of water a day against an estimated need of 480 million. Into that shortfall arrives a project that, whatever its efficiency, adds demand to a system already running short.

Google's answer

The company has tried to meet the concern head-on. Alexander Smith, Google's Asia-Pacific head of infrastructure and energy, said the site will use air cooling rather than the water-hungry alternative, and that the choice was made early. "That finding shaped our choice of cooling configuration from the outset," he said, referring to a watershed assessment that flagged pressure on local supply. Google also points to a company-wide pledge to replenish 120 percent of the freshwater it consumes across its operations by 2030.

On power, Smith said Google "fully funds the cost of required power infrastructure upgrades" and plans to invest in new clean energy projects in Visakhapatnam "built above and beyond what regulations require." The company does not publish site-level power figures.

Why residents remain unconvinced

The objections run wider than cooling design. Excavators have already cleared forest and farmland for the build, some of it near the Kambalakonda wildlife sanctuary. Residents worry about strain on water and power, environmental damage, and a project that may bring fewer jobs than its footprint suggests. Campaigners are asking for an independent water audit, and activists want a moratorium on new data centres across Andhra Pradesh until there is better evidence of what they do to a community.

The state has tried to have it both ways, welcoming the investment while reassuring residents. Minister Lokesh said residential needs come first: "The water needs of our people will always come first." The facility is expected to be operational in 2028.

The pattern is becoming familiar. Only last week, a Google data centre in Finland drew fire for clearing forest without an environmental review. The AI build-out needs land, power and water in enormous quantities, and it increasingly needs them in places where people already live. Visakhapatnam is where that collision is playing out now.