OpenAI, the California, US-based company behind ChatGPT, plans to build a 1GW-capacity data centre in India as part of the private-public Stargate initiative, sources told Bloomberg.
The project would represent a major advancement towards building AI infrastructure in the region.
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The company is currently looking for local partners for the project, according to Bloomberg‘s sources, who asked to remain anonymous. Details such as the data centre’s location or the timeline for its development are still unclear. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman may announce the project during an upcoming trip to India (also yet to be confirmed).
In late August, OpenAI announced it would open its first India office in New Dehli later this year. The most populated country in the world also represents the San Francisco-based company’s second-largest market by user base. It recently launched its cheapest subscription model for ChatGPT in India to attract more users (the cheapest monthly plan in India is just $5, compared to $20 in the US). India also has the largest number of students using ChatGPT, according to a company statement.
The Stargate venture, announced by US President Donald Trump a few weeks after his inauguration, was created in collaboration with SoftBank, Oracle and Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX. It plans to invest up to $500bn in AI infrastructure in the US and overseas. In early August, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son admitted that it was taking longer than anticipated to get the project off the ground.
When the venture was announced in January, the project’s leaders said $100bn would be deployed “immediately”. They said this figure would eventually grow to $500bn, but, as of early August, the venture had neither begun to raise funds nor officially started development on any data centres.
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By GlobalDataIn India, an OpenAI data centre would be a welcome development, particularly at a time when tensions between New Delhi and Washington, DC are high. Trump’s 50% tariffs on Indian exports to the US took effect last week, prompting the country’s leaders to announce plans to diversify its export markets and strengthen ties with non-US partners.
According to data from India’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, computer software and hardware ranked second in industries attracting the most foreign direct investment (FDI) between April 2024 and March 2025, with services being the first. Computer software and hardware accounted for 15% of the country’s total equity FDI inflow during this period.
In May, OpenAI introduced OpenAI for Countries as part of the Stargate project. The company says it is an initiative to help countries build AI infrastructure that incorporates “democratic principles”. Critics have highlighted that a double standard is at play, given the company’s close ties with President Trump, who still denies he lost the 2020 election and played a pivotal part in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol.
