In a big boost to strengthen IT ecosystem in Visakhapatnam, leading asset and mutual fund management company Franklin Templeton and its partner Innova Solutions will open their campus in the city this year.
A plug and play facility admeasuring 15,000 sft is earmarked for allotment in the second floor of the Tech Hub. The new 11-floor building of Tech Mahindra in the heart of the city with 1.74 lakh built-up area has been taken on lease by the AP Electronics and IT Agency (APEITA) under the Designated Technology Park Policy of the State government.
As per the detailed project report, Franklin Templeton and its partner Innova Solutions will invest $70 million with 198 seats.
They will scale up operations in phases over a period of eight years. They will move to their own campus once allotment of 40 acres on the city outskirts is completed.
“The opening of their campus in Franklin Templeton and Innova Solutions in the city is a major breakthrough for us as Arizona (United States) was also in the race by offering 50 acres,” APEITA CEO (Promotions) Tirumala Chamalla told The Hindu .
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu during his meeting with Jennifer Johnson, president and CEO of Franklin Templeton in California had promised to roll out a red carpet to them if they established their campus in Visakhapatnam.
Only after convincing on availability of high-end manpower in artificial intelligence, data analytics and processing and availability of infrastructure in Visakhapatnam, the largest city in Andhra Pradesh, they agreed to open their campus here.
The new campus of Franklin Templeton and Innova Solutions will be opened close on the heels of X Development Centre LLC (formerly Google X) agreeing to locate its first campus outside the United States in Visakhapatnam.
