Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: OpenAI is seeking to build a massive new data center in India that could mark a major step forward in Asia for its Stargate-branded artificial intelligence infrastructure push, reports Bloomberg.
The ChatGPT-maker is scouting local partners to set up a data center with at least 1-gigawatt capacity in the world’s most populous country, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the information is private.
The site could be among the largest in India, where tech giants including Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google — plus Asia’s richest man — have also invested in such facilities.
The exact location and timeline of OpenAI’s potential project remain unclear. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman could announce the facility when he visits India this month, said the people, though those plans remain in flux.
OpenAI’s ambitions in India coincide with rising tensions over trade between Washington and New Delhi. US President Donald Trump has imposed a crushing 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods because of its trade barriers and to punish the country for buying Russian oil, upending a decades-long US push to forge closer ties with the South Asian nation.
OpenAI representatives declined to comment on the potential India facility.
The San Francisco, California-headquartered company has embarked on an AI infrastructure spending spree on American soil and overseas. For its signature $500 billion Stargate project in the US, OpenAI has partnered with SoftBank Group Corp. and Oracle Corp. for an unprecedented data center buildout lauded by Trump. The company recently boosted its US capacity commitment by some 4.5 gigawatts, a sum of energy that could power millions of homes.
The ChatGPT-maker is also coordinating with the US government on OpenAI for Countries, a global initiative that seeks to build AI infrastructure with democratic values. OpenAI has pitched the effort as a way for the US to lead AI development worldwide and counter China’s efforts in a crucial technological battleground.
The company is seeking an initial ten partnerships across regions — and has said that more than 30 countries have reached out to discuss its efforts. So far, OpenAI has announced plans to be the anchor tenant for a Norway project that could reach 520 megawatts in scale, as well as a staggering 5-gigawatt facility in Abu Dhabi — of which the company will use 1-gigawatt of computing power.
That United Arab Emirates site — along with a spate of other American AI investments in the Persian Gulf — has been the subject of significant debate in Washington. While some US officials argue that such projects are an essential bulwark against China’s AI ambitions, others worry about potential national security risks involved in sending large numbers of advanced Nvidia Corp. chips to places with historic ties to Beijing.
The US has restricted AI semiconductor exports to the UAE since 2023, meaning that companies must secure Washington’s permission to ship Nvidia chips to sites including OpenAI’s facility. India, meanwhile, doesn’t face such curbs, after the Trump administration said it’ll scrap a rule that would have extended AI chip export controls to most of the world.
An industrial-scale data center in India would help OpenAI provide customized AI chatbots to users, and allay fears of data transfers out of the country. The company has committed to work with the federal government in its $1.2 billion IndiaAI Mission that seeks to build large and small language models for the country.
The startup is currently on an expansion drive in India, its second-largest market in the world by users. It’s set to open an office in capital New Delhi and is hiring to expand its local team. It has also launched a $5 monthly plan for the country to woo more users.