Andhra emerging as global hub for next-generation manufacturing: Lokesh
He stated that Andhra Pradesh is moving beyond hosting data centres to manufacturing the components that power the global data boom.
The minister announced that a foundation stone will be laid on Wednesday for a new chiller manufacturing facility at Sri City.
The state government sees this as a significant milestone in its industrial and digital infrastructure journey.
“With world-class industrial ecosystems like Sri City, strong policy support, and our unwavering focus on speed and scale, Andhra Pradesh is positioning itself as a global hub for next-generation manufacturing and digital infrastructure," said Lokesh, the minister for information technology, electronics & communications and human resources development.
“Andhra Pradesh is not content with being just a host for data centres - we are determined to become the engine that powers them. The groundbreaking of Carrier Global Corporation’s facility at Sri City marks a defining moment in our journey to build a full-stack data infrastructure ecosystem - from energy and data centres to the manufacturing of the components that sustain them,” he said in a statement.
According to an official release, the investment by Carrier represents Andhra Pradesh’s strategic pivot from being a destination for data centres to becoming a global hub for manufacturing the critical components that power the digital economy.
Andhra Pradesh is rapidly emerging as one of India’s most significant data centre destinations, anchored by large-scale global investments and a forward-looking policy framework.
In recent weeks alone, a landmark $15 billion Google AI data centre hub—one of the largest digital infrastructure investments in India—has broken ground in Visakhapatnam, with a planned 1 GW hyperscale capacity .
This is complemented by proposals such as Reliance Industries’ ₹1.6 lakh crore 1.5 GW data centre cluster, alongside multiple commitments from global and domestic players. With an overall pipeline estimated at over ₹6 lakh crore and a targeted capacity of ~6 GW, Andhra Pradesh is positioning itself well ahead of the current national capacity, building a scale that few regions globally can match, said the release.
“This momentum, backed by progressive policies such as dedicated power frameworks for data centres, is transforming the state - particularly Visakhapatnam - into a premier hub for AI, cloud, and digital infrastructure. Carrier’s entry further strengthens this ecosystem - bringing advanced cooling technologies that are indispensable for next-generation data centres, AI infrastructure, and high-performance computing environments,” it said.
The state is focussing on building a complete value chain - from data centre infrastructure to component manufacturing, including cooling and thermal management systems; power and energy management solutions; precision engineering components and electronics and control systems
By integrating manufacturing with digital infrastructure, Andhra Pradesh aims to create a self-sustaining ecosystem that reduces import dependency, boosts exports, and positions India as a global leader in data infrastructure manufacturing, the government said.
Sri City’s evolution into a major HVAC and electronics hub makes it central to this strategy. With ₹12,000 crore invested in cooling and AC manufacturing, 25,000 direct jobs created in the segment, a strong supplier base contributing ₹4,600 crore in investments, the state eyes 60 per cent share in India’s AC production by 2027.
