Andhra Pradesh Showcases Global Tech Vision at US Meet

Vijayawada: Education minister Nara Lokesh held a series of high-level meetings with global technology leaders in San Francisco on the third day of his US tour, positioning Andhra Pradesh as a futuristic innovation hub.

The discussions focused on deepening partnerships in the fields of Artificial Intelligence, quantum computing, semiconductor manufacturing, creative technologies and green hydrogen.

Lokesh met OpenAI chief technology officer Srinivas Narayanan, seeking the company’s collaboration in setting up a dedicated AI University in AP. The state, he said, is committed to achieving the vision of “one AI-enabled member in every family.”

To accelerate digital skilling, the minister proposed free ChatGPT access for all undergraduate and school students. With AP rapidly emerging as a data-centre hub, he invited OpenAI to involve the state in its future data-centre operations.

Narayanan said OpenAI worked with global tech majors, including Infosys and TCS on enterprise AI integration, and currently served users in more than 180 countries. He assured that a senior-level delegation would study the AP government’s proposals.

In another strategic engagement, Lokesh met AMD senior vice president (AI division) Vamsi Boppana, seeking the company’s participation in AP’s expanding electronics ecosystem.

The minister said Andhra Pradesh was becoming a major electronics manufacturing hub, supported by the new electronics and semiconductor policy. He invited AMD to establish an assembly, testing and packaging unit in the electronics clusters at Sri City and Kopparthi.

Boppana said AMD operated its largest R&D hub outside the US, in India, and was prioritising silicon design, AI innovation and advanced software development. The company earned $27 billion in annual revenue last year. He said AP’s proposals would be examined at the senior leadership level.

Lokesh met Canva chief customer success officer Rob Giglio and education and public sector head Jason Wilmot, inviting the global design platform to collaborate with Creative Land Asia in the upcoming Amaravati Creative Land project.

He said the Rs 65,000-crore world-class capital development works are progressing rapidly and include an entertainment city where creative and digital media training programmes are planned.

Giglio said Canva operates in 190 countries and offers cloud-based platforms for presentations, social media content, documents and videos. He said the proposals would be reviewed internally.

Lokesh met Ohmium CTO Chockalingam Karuppiah, urging the establishment of a green-hydrogen electrolyser manufacturing unit in industrial zones such as Krishnapatnam. He also proposed joint development of solar and wind-powered pilot hydrogen plants, along with investments in ammonia production and transportation.

Karuppiah said Ohmium operated the world’s largest gigawatt-scale electrolyser factory in Bengaluru and provided integrated solutions across North America, Europe, India and the Middle East.

In a push to make AP India’s first Quantum-ready state, Lokesh invited Rigetti Computing CTO David Rivas to establish a Quantum Computing research wing in the Quantum Valley in Amaravati. He also proposed integrating Rigetti’s cloud-based quantum systems into AP’s digital infrastructure.

Rivas said the Berkeley-based firm, which also operated a quantum hardware facility in Fremont, would evaluate the state’s proposals.