Visakhapatnam has emerged as one of the most closely watched locations in India’s accelerating race to scale digital infrastructure. A reported partnership between Meta and Sify Technologies to build a 500MW hyperscale data centre in Andhra Pradesh marks a defining moment, positioning the region at the centre of global AI and cloud expansion strategies.
Sify is expected to invest ₹15,266 crore in the Paradesipalem facility, with Meta set to lease the full capacity. If executed as planned, this would be the first time Meta leases large-scale data centre infrastructure in India, signaling a shift in how the company plans to secure compute and network resources for next-generation AI workloads. The agreement also includes landing Meta’s multibillion-dollar subsea cable, Waterworth, at Sify’s station in the region, an infrastructure move that could expand international bandwidth and reduce latency across major global corridors.
Spanning more than 50,000 kilometres, Waterworth is positioned to become the world’s longest subsea system, linking the US, India, Brazil and South Africa. Combined with a hyperscale facility, the project aligns with Andhra Pradesh’s plan to develop a 6GW data-centre ecosystem. It also coincides with parallel investments from Google and Reliance, including Reliance’s proposal for a 1GW AI data centre powered by a 6-GWp solar project.
For Sify, which aims to list publicly in 2026, the Meta partnership represents one of its most significant customer commitments to date. For India, the implications are broader: control of compute capacity, cable landing rights and renewable-powered data infrastructure are rapidly becoming strategic levers in global technology competition.
Visakhapatnam is now a test case for how regional hubs can shape the next phase of AI and cloud deployment, and how infrastructure decisions may influence the balance of digital power across the Indo-Pacific.
