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Google to Invest $15 bn in India, Build Largest AI Hub Outside US

Google says its data center will make India's Visakhapatnam a 'global connectivity hub'. Sergei GAPON / AFP
Google says its data center will make India's Visakhapatnam a 'global connectivity hub'. Sergei GAPON / AFP
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Google to Invest $15 bn in India, Build Largest AI Hub Outside US

Google says its data center will make India's Visakhapatnam a 'global connectivity hub'. Sergei GAPON / AFP
Google says its data center will make India's Visakhapatnam a 'global connectivity hub'. Sergei GAPON / AFP

Google said Tuesday it will invest $15 billion in India over the next five years, as it announced a giant data center and artificial intelligence base in the country.

"It is the largest AI hub that we are investing in anywhere outside of the US," Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said at a ceremony in New Delhi.

Demand for AI tools and solutions is surging among businesses and individuals in India, which is projected to have more than 900 million internet users by year's end, AFP said.

Kurian announced "capital investment of $15 billion" over the five years and a "gigawatt-scale AI hub in Visakhapatnam", a port city in the southeastern state of Andhra Pradesh.

Google plans for the center to scale to multiple gigawatts, he added, comparing the project to "a digital backbone connecting different parts of India together".

Globally, data centers are an area of phenomenal growth, fueled by the need to store massive amounts of digital data, and to train and run energy-intensive AI tools.

Google chief Sundar Pichai said on X that he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the "landmark development".

"This hub combines gigawatt-scale compute capacity, a new international subsea gateway, and large-scale energy infrastructure," he wrote.

"Through it we will bring our industry-leading technology to enterprises and users in India, accelerating AI innovation and driving growth across the country."

'Data is the new oil'

India's Information Technology Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, thanked Google for the investment.

"This digital infrastructure will go a long way in meeting the goals of our India AI vision," he said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu called it a "very happy day". The state's Technology Minister Nara Lokesh said on X that the deal followed "a year of intense discussions and relentless effort".

Lokesh, speaking at the announcement, said that "data is the new oil and data centers are the new refineries".

"This is about India playing an important role on the global landscape," he added.

Recently top American AI firms looking to court users in the world's fifth-largest economy have made a flurry of announcements about expanding into the country.

This month US startup Anthropic said it plans to open an office in India next year, with its chief executive Dario Amodei meeting Prime Minister Modi.

Modi, in a post on X, told Amodei that "India's vibrant tech ecosystem and talented youth are driving AI innovation", adding that he wanted to "harness AI for growth".

OpenAI has said it will open an India office later this year, with its chief Sam Altman noting that ChatGPT usage in the country had grown fourfold over the past year.

AI firm Perplexity also announced a major partnership in July with Indian telecom giant Airtel, offering the company's 360 million customers a free one-year Perplexity Pro subscription.

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Technology

Nvidia, Bitcoin and Other Superstars on Wall Street Keep Falling

FILE PHOTO: Representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency is seen in this illustration taken September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency is seen in this illustration taken September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Nvidia, Bitcoin and Other Superstars on Wall Street Keep Falling

FILE PHOTO: Representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency is seen in this illustration taken September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Representation of Bitcoin cryptocurrency is seen in this illustration taken September 10, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Nvidia, bitcoin and others among Wall Street’s highest flyers are falling more toward Earth on Friday, and the US stock market is heading for a second straight sharp loss.

The S&P 500 sank 1.2%, coming off one of its worst days since its springtime sell-off and a global wipeout for stocks. Critics had been warning that such drops could be possible because of how high stock prices had shot since April, leaving them looking too expensive. They pointed in particular to stocks swept up in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology.

But even with its recent drops, and the S&P 500 on track for a second straight weekly loss, the index that dictates the movements for many 401(k) accounts is still within 3.3% of its record set late last month, Reuters reported.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 582 points, or 1.2%, and was pulling further from its own all-time high set on Wednesday, while the Nasdaq composite was down 1.5%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time.

AI stocks once again were at the center of the action. Nvidia, which has become the poster child of the AI frenzy, fell 2.2%.

To be sure, it’s still up 36.1% for the year so far. That would count as a stellar year for most any stock, but Nvidia’s price has more than doubled in four of the last five years.

Bitcoin, meanwhile, fell below $96,000 and is back to where it was in May. It had been near $125,000 only in October.

That helped drag down stocks of companies throughout the crypto industry. Strategy, the company that’s built a hoard of bitcoin and used to be known as MicroStrategy, fell 4%. Coinbase Global sank 3.1%, and Robinhood Markets dropped 3.6%.

Outside of tech and crypto, Walmart sank 2.4% after saying its CEO, Doug McMillon, will retire in January in a surprise move. He had helped the nation’s largest retailer embrace technology more.

One way companies can tamp down criticism about too-high stock prices is to deliver solid growth in profits. That’s raising the stakes for Nvidia’s upcoming profit report coming on Wednesday, when it will say how much it earned during the summer.

If it falls short of analysts’ lofty expectations, even more drops could be on the way. That would have a huge effect on the market because Nvidia has grown to become Wall Street’s largest stock by value, briefly topping $5 trillion.

That means Nvidia’s stock movements have a bigger effect on the S&P 500 than any other’s, and it can almost single-handedly steer the index up or down on any given day.

Another way for stock prices broadly to look less expensive is if interest rates fall. That’s because when bonds are paying less in interest, investors are often willing to stomach higher prices for stocks and other kinds of investments.

Treasury yields had been falling for most of this year on expectations that the Federal Reserve would cut its main interest rate several times this year. And the Fed has indeed cut twice already in hopes of shoring up the slowing job market.

But questions are rising now about whether a third cut, which traders had earlier seen as very likely, will actually happen at the Fed’s next meeting in December. The downside of lower interest rates is that they can make inflation worse, and it’s already still above the Fed’s 2% target.

Fed officials have pointed to the US government’s shutdown, which just ended. It delayed the release of many updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. With less information and less certainty about how the economy is doing, some Fed officials have said it may be better to just wait in December to get more clarity.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked down to 4.09% from 4.11% late Thursday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes tumbled across Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi fell 3.8%, and Germany’s DAX lost 1.8% for two of the larger drops.

Technology

UNESCO Delegation Visits ICAIRE in Riyadh to Review Global AI Ethics Efforts

The UNESCO delegation also learned about the center's scientific efforts to enhance knowledge exchange with specialized global centers - SPA
The UNESCO delegation also learned about the center's scientific efforts to enhance knowledge exchange with specialized global centers - SPA
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UNESCO Delegation Visits ICAIRE in Riyadh to Review Global AI Ethics Efforts

The UNESCO delegation also learned about the center's scientific efforts to enhance knowledge exchange with specialized global centers - SPA
The UNESCO delegation also learned about the center's scientific efforts to enhance knowledge exchange with specialized global centers - SPA

A UNESCO delegation visited the International Center for AI Research and Ethics (ICAIRE) in Riyadh to review the center's international research and knowledge initiatives focusing on AI ethics, underscoring ICAIRE's role as a global platform leading these ethical efforts under UNESCO's auspices.

Key projects and programs reviewed during the visit included international initiatives supporting the responsible use of AI, research related to safe AI applications, and a capacity-building program aimed at empowering local and global expertise, SPA reported.

The UNESCO delegation also learned about the center's scientific efforts to enhance knowledge exchange with specialized global centers, highlighting ICAIRE's commitment to advancing global ethical standards in AI.

Technology

Amazon, Microsoft Back Effort to Curb Nvidia's Exports to China

FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen on graphic card package in this illustration taken August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen on graphic card package in this illustration taken August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Amazon, Microsoft Back Effort to Curb Nvidia's Exports to China

FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen on graphic card package in this illustration taken August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Nvidia logo is seen on graphic card package in this illustration taken August 19, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Amazon is joining Microsoft in backing legislation to further restrict chipmaker Nvidia's ability to export chips to China, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The legislation, known as the GAIN AI Act, is also backed by AI startup Anthropic, the report said.

Short for Guaranteeing Access and Innovation for National Artificial Intelligence (GAIN), the Act was introduced as part of the National Defense Authorization Act and stipulates that AI chipmakers prioritize domestic orders for advanced processors before supplying them to foreign customers.

Microsoft publicly came out in favor of the legislation, while officials at Amazon's cloud unit have privately told Senate staffers that they also support it, the report said.

Meta Platforms and Alphabet's Google have not taken a position on the Act, and neither has US President Donald Trump, the report added.

White House officials, including AI czar David Sacks, told GAIN Act sponsor Senator Jim Banks that the policy's impact is limited as the Commerce Department already regulates chip exports, the report said.

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Amazon declined to comment, while Microsoft, Anthropic and the White House did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

Nvidia, the world's dominant chipmaker, has previously said the GAIN AI Act stands to restrict global competition for advanced chips, limiting computing power available to other countries.

The touted legislation reflects Washington's attempt to prioritize American needs amid fears that China would leverage access to high-end AI capabilities to supercharge its military.