Andhra Pradesh government today signed an MoU with Adani Group to build data center parks up to 5 gigawatt (gw) capacities in and around Visakhapatnam using 100 percent renewable energy over the next 20 years. The move also marks the Adani Group's foray into the digital infrastructure sector.

The idea is to develop hyper-scale data center market in the state, positioning AP as the east coast data center hub for India and South East Asia. It will also be integrated with a cable landing station that will take advantage of the state's long coastline to hep provide the needed global connectivity and redundancy that the country needs to manage its exponential growth of data, the government said.

Adani group proposes to support the development of the digital and energy infrastructure in the state by investing over Rs 70,000 crore over a period of 20 years and the whole initiative is expected to create in excess of 100,000 direct and indirect jobs.

"From agriculture to financial markets to smart cities to healthcare, digitisation is the future and will soon be a critical component of everything that we do. Efficient and eco-friendly data centers are the key to enabling this futuristic ecosystem. We are very pleased to see that the Adani Group believes in the vision of Andhra Pradesh as one of the most progressive states in India and hence, has decided to partner with the state government on this exciting journey," chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in a statement.

Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani said it was a proud moment to collaborate with AP government to develop the world's first green data center parks. The group's ability to provide 100 percent renewable power and its experience in energy management is a critical aspect towards lowering the carbon footprint for an industry that is now the world's largest and growing power consuming industry, according him.