OpenAI is set to build a huge data centre in its second-largest market, India. This is part of the multinational artificial intelligence venture Stargate, led by the ChatGPT maker.
The new facility will provide at least one gigawatt of computational power, making it one of the largest in India, anonymous sources told Bloomberg. OpenAI is currently scouting local partners, and CEO Sam Altman could well formally announce the facility during a trip this month.
The billionaire is heading to India primarily to visit a new office due to open in late 2025. Altman said on X that he is “excited to invest much more” in the country, as ChatGPT users have quadrupled in the past year.
OpenAI declined to comment on the potential India facility, according to Bloomberg.
OpenAI has recently launched several initiatives for the Indian market, including the OpenAI Academy AI literacy programme, Indian language support for GPT-5, and an India-specific subscription tier called ChatGPT Go. It is also lending its support to the Indian government’s $1.2 billion IndiaAI mission to drive AI innovation.
A new data centre in India would improve the latency and performance of OpenAI’s services in the country, allowing it to offer custom chatbots and other enterprise solutions. It would also reassure Indian users of their security, as data would be processed locally.
Many other tech giants, including Microsoft and Google, already have data centres in India, and the government subsidises their construction.
Altman’s ambitions in India coincide with strained US-India relations. Just last week, Washington increased the tariff on Indian imports from 25% to 50%, tied to the country’s continued purchase of Russian oil. Trump, however, has claimed that India has extended an olive branch by offering to reduce its tariffs “to nothing.”
What is the Stargate initiative?
Announced by President Donald Trump in January 2025, Stargate is a $500 billion generative AI infrastructure venture, led by OpenAI, Oracle, Japanese telecoms giant SoftBank, and MGX, an investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates. OpenAI intends to operate the data centres, while Oracle provides server infrastructure and leasing, SoftBank handles capital investment, and Nvidia supplies many of the chips.
Oracle is building new data centres in the US to provide 4.5 gigawatts of computing power to the Stargate initiative, creating 10,000 new jobs. It is currently building 10 facilities in Abilene, Texas, and has plans for other sites in Norway, the UK, Japan, and the UAE. The Abu Dhabi site is proving controversial in Washington due to its alliance with Beijing, and the data centre will use advanced American chips that Trump is keen to keep far away from China.
Through the OpenAI for Countries sub-initiative, Stargate also aims to foster infrastructure partnerships with national governments by providing localised instances of “democratic” AI as an alternative to authoritarian deployments. OpenAI has framed this as a strategy to reinforce US global AI leadership, particularly in competition with China.
Stargate has struggled to get off the ground due to several factors, including uncertainty about Trump’s tariffs, which could significantly increase the cost of server racks, chips, and cooling systems. In early August, Bloomberg reported that funds had been raised to meet the project’s initial $500 billion budget.
Nevertheless, a US appeals court has struck down most of President Trump’s global tariffs, ruling he overstepped his authority and setting up a Supreme Court fight.