OpenAI explores partnerships in India for $500B data center project
What's the story
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is in talks with Indian data center firms Sify Technologies, Yotta Data Services, E2E Networks, and CtrlS Datacenters. The discussions are part of OpenAI's plan to bring its $500 billion global joint venture supercomputing project—Stargate—to India. The company has also been in talks with Reliance Industries for over six months about the same.
Data center development
Reliance planning world's largest data center
Reliance Industries, a conglomerate with interests in oil and telecom, is planning to build the world's largest data center at Jamnagar in Gujarat. This facility may potentially align with OpenAI's needs for the Stargate project. The talks have so far focused on factors such as the data center companies' installed capacities, their geographical spread, and power availability—key considerations for OpenAI.
Data localization
Indian government requests OpenAI to invest in India
The talks come after the Indian government requested OpenAI to bring the Stargate project to India and store Indian data locally. An official told the Economic Times, "The government has told OpenAI that they should invest at least a few billions out of the $500 billion project in India." This is part of India's strategy to localize data storage and processing, similar to what Microsoft and Google have done with their large data centers in the country.
Market expansion
OpenAI's growing presence in India
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had recently said that India is the company's second-largest market after the US, and could become its largest due to its rapid growth. The company is expanding its presence in India by setting up its first office in New Delhi. In May, OpenAI enabled local data residency in key Asian countries including India, allowing 'data at rest' such as prompts, uploaded files and chat interactions to be stored within the country where they originate.
Project details
What is Stargate project?
OpenAI announced the Stargate project in January as a joint venture company that intends to invest $500 billion over four years to build new AI infrastructure in the US. The initial equity funders of Stargate include SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX, with SoftBank's Masayoshi Son as its chairman. Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are among the key initial technology partners for this ambitious project.
Infrastructure needs
Local companies need to address chip availability, cooling technologies
Experts say that local companies will need to address chip availability and advanced cooling technologies to meet OpenAI's requirements. Jitesh Karlekar from JLL said, "India's data center industry meets most AI workload requirements including competitive power, skilled talent, and strong local market demand." However, he added that "supply chain constraints for specialized AI hardware persists," which could be overcome through strategic partnerships and targeted infrastructure investments.