The 1.64 lakh sq ft facility can house up to 1,000 professionals and the full strength may be reached by the year end.
"Indian market conditions are highly encouraging to IBM and we will continue to grow here," Frank Kern, IBM general manager (Asia Pacific) said at the inaugural function of the GDC.
IBM has been growing in India with five GDCs at Bangalore, Kolkata, Gurgaon, Pune and Hyderabad with a total headcount of 23,000. "In the last four years, we have grown by 49 per cent," he added.
IBM India managing director Shankar Annaswamy said the main focus of the centre would be design and development and applications in Mainframe, SAP and web technologies.
"The centre here is fully networked with our other centres in India," he said. Participating as the chief guest, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy said IT and ITeS are growing in the state in a rapid manner.
"In the last one year, AP has registered highest growth in the country with 64.5 per cent against the national average of 35 per cent," he said.
Visakhapatnam can be developed as a major IT hub and IT companies should consider setting up facilities there, he added.
