San Francisco: Andhra Pradesh's Minister for IT and Education, Nara Lokesh, held a series of high-level meetings with top executives from Google, Adobe, Nvidia, and Intel during his visit to the United States aimed at attracting significant foreign investment to the state.
In a key meeting in San Francisco, Nara Lokesh met with Google CEO Sundar Pichai to discuss the progress of the company's planned $15 billion AI data center in Visakhapatnam. He expressed gratitude to the Google team for the substantial investment, which Pichai described as the company’s largest foreign direct investment outside the United States. During the discussion, which also included Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian, Lokesh proposed that Google establish a drone assembly and testing unit in Andhra Pradesh's upcoming Drone City. Pichai assured him that the proposals would be discussed internally.
Continuing his outreach, Nara Lokesh met with Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, urging him to consider setting up a Global Capability Center or a development facility in Visakhapatnam. Leveraging Narayen's board positions at other global firms, Lokesh also pitched for investments from Pfizer and KKR, suggesting a Pfizer manufacturing plant in Visakhapatnam's pharma zone and KKR's involvement in the state's healthcare sector. Narayen responded positively, promising to confer with his colleagues on the proposals.
In Santa Clara, the minister engaged with executives from Nvidia and Intel. In his meeting with Raj Mirpuri, Nvidia’s Vice President of Enterprise and Cloud Sales, Lokesh requested support for AI skill development and a pilot project for a "Smart Factory" using Nvidia's technology. He also urged the company to encourage its manufacturing partners to invest in Andhra Pradesh and connect local deep-tech startups with Nvidia’s India-focused fund.
At Intel's headquarters, Nara Lokesh met with IT CTO Sesha Krishnapura to propose the establishment of an Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) unit in the state. Highlighting the robust ecosystem within the Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor, he also suggested the creation of an "Intel-Amaravati AI Research Center" in partnership with a local premier institution.
Across all meetings, the corporate leaders acknowledged Andhra Pradesh's proposals and committed to internal reviews, marking a significant step in the state's efforts to position itself as a global technology and manufacturing hub.
