OpenAI will become the first customer of Tata Consultancy Services’ new data centre business in India, committing to an initial 100 megawatts of capacity as part of its global Stargate AI infrastructure programme, the companies announced on Thursday.

The agreement forms part of Stargate, a $500 billion multi-year initiative to build artificial intelligence data centres for training and inference workloads. Under the deal, OpenAI will use capacity developed by Tata Consultancy Services, part of Tata Group, with scope to scale the project to 1 gigawatt over time.

The mandate provides early validation for Tata Consultancy Services’ HyperVault unit, launched in 2025 with plans to invest up to $7 billion in building a 1 gigawatt data centre platform in India. The facilities are intended to support AI-ready workloads, including data residency and compliance requirements for government and enterprise clients.

As part of a broader strategic partnership, Tata Group plans to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across its workforce over the next several years, beginning with hundreds of thousands of Tata Consultancy Services employees. The IT services company also intends to use OpenAI’s Codex tools to standardise AI-driven software development across teams.

Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI, said: “India is already leading the way in AI adoption, and with its talent, ambition, and strong government support, it is well placed to help shape its future. Through OpenAI for India and our partnership with Tata Group, we’re working together to build the infrastructure, skills, and local partnerships needed to build AI with India, for India, and in India.”

N Chandrasekaran, chairman of Tata Sons, said the collaboration marked “a major milestone in India’s vision to become a global leader in AI”, adding that the companies would “create state-of-the-art AI infrastructure in India” and “skill India’s youth and empower them to succeed in the AI era”.

OpenAI said India now accounts for more than 100 million weekly ChatGPT users, spanning students, developers and businesses. The company plans to open new offices in Mumbai and Bengaluru later this year, expanding its presence beyond New Delhi.

India has attracted rising investment in AI infrastructure in recent years, with global technology groups including Google, Amazon, Meta Platforms and Microsoft expanding local capacity, alongside domestic conglomerates such as Reliance and Adani Group.

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