NEW DELHI, India — OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman said on Thursday that India is witnessing extraordinary growth in artificial intelligence adoption, describing the country as one of the company’s fastest-growing markets globally and a key driver of its future strategy.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Altman said India’s AI opportunity is “amazing,” citing both the scale and speed of adoption across sectors. He noted that India may currently be OpenAI’s fastest-growing market worldwide, particularly for its developer-focused tools.
Altman said more than 100 million people in India now use ChatGPT every week, including students, teachers, developers, and entrepreneurs. He added that the breadth of use cases reflects the country’s growing importance within the global AI ecosystem.
Earlier in the day, Altman announced the launch of the “OpenAI for India” initiative, a country-focused effort aimed at building infrastructure, strengthening skills, and forming local partnerships to develop AI solutions tailored to India’s needs.
He said the initiative is built around the idea of creating “AI with India, for India, and in India,” emphasizing collaboration with domestic partners to expand access to AI and unlock its economic and social potential.
As part of the initiative, OpenAI will work with leading Indian partners, beginning with the Tata Group, to support sovereign AI capabilities, accelerate enterprise adoption, invest in workforce upskilling, and strengthen India’s broader AI ecosystem.
Under OpenAI’s global Stargate infrastructure program, the company and the Tata Group plan to jointly develop AI-ready data center capacity in India. OpenAI will become the first customer of Tata Consultancy Services’ HyperVault data center business, starting with 100 megawatts of capacity and potentially scaling up to 1 gigawatt over time.
Altman said India’s deep technology talent pool, optimism around AI, and supportive policy environment position the country to play a central role in shaping large-scale, democratic AI adoption. He added that localized infrastructure will allow OpenAI’s advanced models to operate securely within India, offering lower latency while meeting data residency and security requirements. (Source: IANS)
