OpenAI is reportedly considering building a 1 GW data center in India in what appears to be a step in its journey to kickstart its Stargate project in South Asia. According to a report by Bloomberg, based on information from people familiar with the matter, the ChatGPT maker is currently scouting for local partners for the mega project.
OpenAI is yet to make any official statement on the subject. However, the artificial intelligence major does have ambitious goals pertaining to the expansion of its Stargate project across the world. After debuting in the United States, Stargate projects have been launched in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Norway, as part of the OpenAI for Countries program, a new initiative within the Stargate project.
This is where things could get interesting.
Readers would recall that it was US President Donald Trump who had announced the launch of the Stargate project in the United States earlier this year. Stargate UAE was also launched during his visit to the Middle East this year. OpenAI is working closely with the US government when it comes to the OpenAI for Countries program.
OpenAI has even stated as much, “As we expand our international partnerships, we are further committed to ensuring that strong security standards and strong partner ecosystems remain at the core of how advanced AI is built and deployed. That’s why we are proactively engaging with U.S. government entities—including those overseeing export controls — to ensure that our international partnerships meet the highest standards of security and compliance, and why our OpenAI for Countries initiative includes commitments from partner nations to invest in expanding our Stargate project here in the U.S.”
Given how US President Donald Trump has recently announced 50 percent tariffs on India, purportedly to punish the South Asian nation for purchasing oil from Russia, the relationship between the world’s oldest democracy and the world’s largest democracy are fraught, to say the least. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) in the port city of Tianjin, are probably being watched closely by the Trump administration.
However, OpenAI has already taken its first tentative steps to establishing a presence in India. In August this year, it announced plans to open its first office in the country later this year. It has also launched OpenAI Learning Accelerator, an India-first initiative that aims to bring advanced AI to India’s educators and millions of learners nationwide through AI research, training, and deployment. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is expected to visit the country later this month. He had mentioned as much in a post on X (previously Twitter) last month.
While Stargate India would indeed be a shot in the arm for a country that is home to over 1.4 billion tech-savvy people who are consuming digital services and generating data at an unprecedented rate, in light of the latest geopolitical developments, perhaps it is wiser to wait for things to unfold in their own time, and let OpenAI make a formal statement.