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OpenAI Just Poured Billions Into India

–The Autonomous Times
OpenAI Just Poured Billions Into India

OpenAI is done treating India as just another market. It is treating it as a country.

The company announced OpenAI for India at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in Delhi — a nationwide initiative that represents its most ambitious move into any single country. The numbers tell part of the story. More than 100 million people in India now use ChatGPT every week. But the real message is bigger than usage: OpenAI is building infrastructure inside India, for India.

"We're working together to build the infrastructure, skills, and local partnerships needed to build AI with India, for India, and in India," said Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO.

The Tata Deal

The centerpiece of the announcement is a partnership with Tata Group that reads like a national strategy document.

OpenAI and Tata are building local AI-ready data center capacity through Tata Consultancy Services' HyperVault business. OpenAI will be the first customer. The initial commitment: 100 megawatts of capacity, with potential to scale to 1 gigawatt over time.

This is not a small bet. One gigawatt is enough to power a small city. It is also a direct response to data residency requirements — the infrastructure will allow OpenAI's most advanced models to run securely in India, delivering lower latency while meeting India's domestic compliance requirements.

Tata Group plans to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across its employees over the next several years. That starts with hundreds of thousands of TCS workers, making it one of the largest enterprise AI deployments in the world.

The Education Push

OpenAI is also betting that India's biggest competitive advantage is its people.

The company is expanding its certification program to India, with TCS becoming the first participating organization outside the United States. These certifications are designed to help professionals build practical AI skills that apply across roles and industries.

The education partnerships go further. OpenAI announced more than 100,000 ChatGPT Edu licenses to Indian institutions, including:

  • Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
  • All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
  • Manipal Academy of Higher Education
  • University of Petroleum and Energy Studies
  • Pearl Academy

That is not philanthropy. That is workforce development at scale.

The Office Strategy

OpenAI plans to open new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru later this year, joining its existing presence in New Delhi. The message is clear: India is not a market to dip into. It is a market to build in.

The company is leaning into a narrative that contrasts with its recent tensions with the Indian government. Earlier this year, India's IT minister criticized OpenAI for allegedly avoiding taxes in the country. This announcement is the answer — not in words, but in infrastructure, jobs, and partnerships.

Why It Matters

India has 100 million weekly ChatGPT users. That makes it one of OpenAI's largest markets by usage. But usage does not equal control.

The Tata partnership changes that calculation. By building data center capacity inside India, OpenAI is addressing the two concerns that governments care about most: data residency and domestic economic benefit.

India is also positioning itself as a counterweight to China in the global AI race. The OpenAI-Tata deal aligns with that strategy — it brings American AI technology into India's infrastructure while building domestic capability.

The message from Delhi is unambiguous: India wants to be an AI superpower, and it is willing to work with anyone who will build there.

OpenAI just agreed to build.

Sources