AP Minister Nara Lokesh visits the US to fast-track Google's $15B AI data center and pitch Andhra's "Quantum Valley" to tech giants like NVIDIA and OpenAI.
Brajesh Mishra
Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh kicked off a high-stakes investment tour of the United States and Canada today, December 10, 2025, meeting with top executives from tech giants including Google, Adobe, and NVIDIA. The mission aims to lock in critical commitments for the state's ambitious $1 trillion investment target by 2030, headlined by the acceleration of Google's $15 billion AI data center in Visakhapatnam. With the state government targeting the creation of 20 lakh jobs, Lokesh's trip is a pivotal moment in positioning Andhra Pradesh as India's next deep-tech capital.
Since taking office in mid-2025, Lokesh has aggressively courted global capital, securing ₹20 lakh crore in investment pledges over just 17 months. His October meeting with Sundar Pichai in Delhi laid the groundwork for the Visakhapatnam project, but the current visit focuses on execution—specifically, fast-tracking the data center's timeline and securing partners for the newly announced "Quantum Valley" in Amaravati. The state is betting big on emerging tech, aiming to have India's first 158-qubit quantum computer operational by January 2026.
While headlines focus on the dollar figures, the deeper story is the "AI Ecosystem Gamble." Lokesh isn't just building data centers; he's attempting to leapfrog the traditional IT services model (coding/BPO) and jump straight into the AI infrastructure layer. By courting NVIDIA for chips and OpenAI for models, Andhra Pradesh is trying to become the "engine room" of the global AI economy. This is a high-risk, high-reward strategy: if successful, it insulates the state from AI-driven job losses in traditional tech. If it fails, the state could be left with expensive "white elephant" infrastructure without the talent pool to sustain it.
A successful tour would cement Visakhapatnam as a credible rival to Bangalore and Hyderabad, diversifying India's tech geography. It also signals a shift in state-level diplomacy, where ministers bypass New Delhi to forge direct economic ties with global corporations. For the Telugu diaspora, the "Kalalaku Rekkalu" initiative marks a pivot from seeing them as just sources of remittances to active partners in state-building.
Can a state build a "Quantum Valley" in three years when it took Silicon Valley fifty years to build itself?
What is Nara Lokesh doing in the US? Andhra Pradesh IT Minister Nara Lokesh is on a five-day visit (Dec 6-10, 2025) to the US and Canada. His primary goal is to meet with CEOs of major tech companies like Google, Adobe, and NVIDIA to secure investments for the state's AI and quantum computing initiatives.
What is the Google AI data center project in Visakhapatnam? It is a proposed $15 billion investment by Google to build India's largest AI-focused data center in Visakhapatnam. The facility is expected to be operational by January 2026 and will anchor the state's AI infrastructure strategy.
What is "Quantum Valley" in Andhra Pradesh? "Quantum Valley" is a planned ecosystem in Amaravati dedicated to quantum computing technologies. The state aims to host India's first 158-qubit quantum computer there by early 2026, positioning itself as a hub for deep-tech research.
Who is Nara Lokesh? Nara Lokesh is the Minister for IT, Electronics, and HRD in Andhra Pradesh and the son of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. He is a Stanford MBA graduate and is leading the state's aggressive push for foreign direct investment (FDI).
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