OpenAI chief Sam Altman plans India visit as AI leaders converge in New Delhi: sources

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is readying to sojourn India successful mid-February, his archetypal sojourn to the state successful astir a year, TechCrunch has learned. The sojourn comes arsenic New Delhi prepares to big a large AI acme expected to gully apical executives from Meta, Google, and Anthropic.

India is hosting its archetypal large AI lawsuit — the India AI Impact Summit 2026 — successful New Delhi betwixt February 16 and 20, bringing unneurotic planetary exertion leaders including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei alongside cardinal Indian concern figures similar Reliance Industries president Mukesh Ambani, per the summit’s website. Altman is not presently listed arsenic a confirmed attendee.

But TechCrunch has learned that OpenAI is separately readying to big closed-door meetings connected the sidelines of the acme successful New Delhi, wherever Altman is expected to beryllium present. The institution is besides hosting an OpenAI lawsuit successful New Delhi connected February 19, with task capitalists and manufacture executives invited, 1 idiosyncratic acquainted with the substance said.

Altman’s sojourn has not been publically announced and plans could inactive change, the sources said.

Several different U.S. companies are besides readying broadside events astir the acme week. Anthropic is hosting a developers’ time successful Bengaluru connected February 16, the institution confirmed to TechCrunch. Nvidia is besides acceptable to clasp an evening lawsuit successful New Delhi during the acme week, radical acquainted with the plans told TechCrunch. (The GPU-maker did not respond to requests for comment.) The clump of events underscores however planetary AI firms are seeking to prosecute India’s endeavor customers, startup ecosystem, and developer community.

The travel would people Altman’s archetypal sojourn to India successful astir a year, aft helium travelled to the country successful February 2025. Altman had antecedently said helium planned to instrumentality later successful 2025 pursuing OpenAI’s August announcement of a New Delhi office, but that travel did not instrumentality place.

Altman’s sojourn besides comes arsenic India has emerged arsenic a cardinal maturation marketplace for American AI companies. In caller months, Anthropic announced an bureau successful Bengaluru and named erstwhile Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose arsenic its section head, portion Google and Perplexity person struck partnerships with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, respectively, to bundle premium AI subscriptions for millions of telecom users.

OpenAI has been expanding its India beingness successful caller months, hiring crossed endeavor sales, method deployment and ineligible roles focused connected AI regulation. The institution is presently listing openings successful New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. India has emerged arsenic ChatGPT’s biggest marketplace by downloads and second-largest by users. Still, OpenAI has faced challenges converting that request into paid subscriptions, introducing a lower-priced “ChatGPT Go” plan past twelvemonth priced nether $5 and offering it escaped for a year to thrust uptake.

Altman is expected to conscionable cardinal tech executives, startup founders, and authorities officials during the trip, the sources said, arsenic OpenAI looks to grow ChatGPT’s endeavor adoption portion inactive broadening its scope arsenic a mass-market product. The institution has been engaging with aggregate sectors successful India, including acquisition and media, the radical added.

OpenAI is besides looking astatine India arsenic a imaginable basal for infrastructure expansion, the sources said. Last year, some Google and Microsoft announced multi-billion-dollar investments successful India to expand their AI and unreality footprint. But India’s data-center ambitions face constraints including uneven powerfulness availability, precocious vigor costs and h2o scarcity successful respective regions — factors that could dilatory the build-out of AI infrastructure and rise operating costs for unreality providers.

Still, the Indian authorities is hopeful that the upcoming acme volition cement India’s presumption arsenic a destination for large-scale AI investment. The country’s IT curate said successful a caller interrogation that the lawsuit could assistance attract arsenic overmuch arsenic $100 billion successful investment. The national authorities is besides pushing home startups to build smaller models for section usage cases, yet reducing reliance connected U.S.-based systems.

OpenAI, India’s IT ministry, and the AI summit’s organizers did not respond to requests for comment.