At the India AI Impact Summit 2026, OpenAI officially unveiled “OpenAI for India,” a nationwide initiative aimed at expanding AI access, building sovereign infrastructure, and accelerating enterprise adoption across the country.
The announcement includes a landmark partnership with the Tata Group to develop AI-optimized data center capacity in India, starting at 100 megawatts (MW) and potentially scaling to 1 gigawatt (GW).
The move marks one of the most significant AI infrastructure commitments in India to date.
100 Million Weekly Users in India
OpenAI revealed that India is now home to more than 100 million weekly ChatGPT users, spanning students, developers, entrepreneurs, and enterprises.
The new initiative builds on that momentum by focusing on four pillars:
- Sovereign AI infrastructure
- Enterprise transformation
- Workforce upskilling
- Ecosystem expansion
Tata Partnership to Build AI-Ready Data Centers
Under the collaboration, OpenAI will work with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to develop AI-ready data center infrastructure through TCS’ HyperVault business.
OpenAI will become HyperVault’s first customer.
Key Details:
- Phase 1 capacity: 100 MW
- Potential scale: Up to 1 GW
- Designed for AI training and inference
- Supports data residency and compliance requirements
- Built to handle government and mission-critical workloads
The infrastructure will allow OpenAI’s most advanced models to operate securely within India, reducing latency and meeting regulatory requirements for domestic data storage.
The development positions India as a growing player in the global AI compute race.
Enterprise AI Deployment Across Tata Ecosystem
OpenAI and Tata also announced a strategic enterprise collaboration to drive AI adoption at scale.
Tata Group plans to roll out ChatGPT Enterprise across its workforce over the coming years, beginning with hundreds of thousands of TCS employees — potentially making it one of the largest enterprise AI deployments globally.
TCS also intends to integrate OpenAI’s Codex tools to standardize AI-assisted software development across teams.
Expanding Corporate Partnerships in India
OpenAI has also expanded partnerships with major Indian companies, including:
- JioHotstar
- Pine Labs
- Cars24
- HCLTech
- PhonePe
- CRED
- MakeMyTrip
The partnerships span fintech, travel, cloud services, streaming, and ecommerce sectors.
Education and Workforce Upskilling
As part of the initiative, OpenAI will expand its certification programs in India. TCS becomes the first organization outside the United States to participate in OpenAI Certifications.
Additionally, more than 100,000 ChatGPT Edu licenses will be distributed to leading 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
The goal is to equip students and professionals with practical AI skills applicable across industries.
New Offices
To strengthen its local presence, OpenAI announced plans to open new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru later this year, complementing its existing operations in New Delhi.
Leadership Statements
Sam Altman said India is “well placed to help shape how democratic AI is adopted at scale,” adding that the initiative focuses on building infrastructure and skills “with India, for India, and in India.”
Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, described the partnership as “a major milestone in India’s vision to become a global leader in AI,” emphasizing its potential to transform industries and empower India’s youth.
Strategic Significance
The OpenAI–Tata collaboration represents:
- One of India’s largest AI infrastructure announcements
- A major enterprise AI deployment strategy
- A long-term push toward AI sovereignty
With hyperscale compute capacity potentially reaching 1GW and enterprise AI adoption accelerating, India is positioning itself as a significant player in the global artificial intelligence ecosystem.
More details on timelines and phased deployments are expected in the coming months.