TN to set up two million square feet facility catering to AI in Coimbatore: CM Stalin

TN to set up two million square feet facility catering to AI in Coimbatore: CM Stalin

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CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu government will be setting up a facility for artificial intelligence (AI) through a public-private partnership in Coimbatore, Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.

Delivering the inaugural address at the two-day Umagine TN 2025 IT Summit, Stalin said that the facility will be set up at 2 million square feet of IT Space, which belongs to the Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT). According to official sources, the facility would also cater to to other technology companies. However, there is a huge demand from companies specialising in AI and as a result, this could become one of the AI hubs.

Highlighting the state government’s initiatives in emerging technologies, the Chief Minister said that the state is a step ahead of others in encouraging businesses and entrepreneurship.

He also raised concern over the spread of digital crimes and stressed on the need to strengthen technologies to prevent such crimes. Stating the need for human capital for the growth of IT sector, the Chief Minister highlighted the success of Naan Mudhalvan Scheme. He said, under the scheme, 10,435 teachers and 34,267 students have so far received training in industry-related skills.

The Chief Minister said that Tamil Virtual Academy is developing natural language processing tools in Tamil and grammar analyser software for the language.

State Information Technology minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan said that the state contributes 20 per cent of India’s engineering and technology workforce; it is the number one source for patent filing in India, and about 75 per cent of patents in the areas of deep tech and innovation are filed from Chennai alone. The minister said that more than 85 per cent of people working in the technology sector in the state are of Tamil origin.

Vijayakumar, Chief Executive Officer, HCL Tech, said Tamil Nadu is a strategic location for the company, which has an expansive presence in Chennai and Madurai. Of the 2,20,000 people the company has globally, about 160,000 are in India, and more than a third of them are based in Tamil Nadu.