Sipu Jha
Google appointed longtime executive Amin Vahdat as chief technologist for AI infrastructure late last year. The appointment comes as the tech giants pour billions into the computing backbone needed to power artificial intelligence. The move comes as the company ramps up spending on data centers and hardware to support artificial intelligence workloads, with AI-related capital expenditure to run into billions this year. At the recent earnings call in February, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said that the company would spend up to $185 billion on capital expenditures related to AI this year. Incidentally, the $100 billion-plus figure is not unique to Google, other technology companies including Meta, Microsoft and Amazon too have announced similar numbers for capital expenditure. Google’s newly-minted Chief Technologist for AI infrastructure Vahdat recently told Forbes in an interview that over the next several years, Google’s data center spending will add up to a “significant investment”. He said, “Just in simple numbers, if there’s a 10 year quote, and we’re at $175 to $185 billion this year, one could imagine, assuming it’s not going to go down, that this could extend to some big number over 10 years.” Vahdat, however, clarified that this is “not a promise” that Google would spend that much over the next 10 years.
Big datacentre challenge for Google
Talking about billion dollar capital expenditure, Vahdat said that the biggest challenge Google faces is not simply scaling up but redesigning how infrastructure itself is built. Over the next five years, he added that data centers may shift away from bespoke construction toward more modular, repeatable designs — standardized blueprints capable of being replicated globally at unprecedented speed. That’s also the kind of bet that may help cement Google’s place as a primary competitor in the AI race for years to come.Core to the data center buildout is procuring the energy needed to power them — often a major target for critics. Because of backlash, other AI giants have pledged to pay more for electricity. Data centers are facing political blowback in communities across the U.S. more often as people blame them for rising electricity prices in some regions and worry about their environmental impact. Data centers also consume a significant amount of water for cooling. Late last month, Google announced that it will build its first data center in Minnesota. Google will also bring 1,900 megawatts of new renewable energy to the state under an agreement with utility Xcel.Minnesota has not been a major data center market so far but the big tech companies are increasingly eyeing the state. There are reportedly 74 data centers in Minnesota currently. Virginia, the largest market worldwide, has 570 such facilities, according to the Data Center Map.
Meet Google veteran Amin Vahdat
An old-timer, Vahdat has been with the company for over 15 years. He joined Google in 2010 after a career in academia as a researcher and professor, which included stops at Duke, the University of Washington and UC San Diego (and he had an early internship at Xerox Parc, the legendary Silicon Valley research lab). In December 2025, he was promoted to oversee strategy for AI infrastructure, which includes chip development and optimization, data center buildout and energy investments. He reports directly to Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
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