Sam Altman's India Visit: OpenAI CEO to Attend Major AI Summit Amid Growing Competition

In a significant development for India's burgeoning artificial intelligence ecosystem, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is planning to visit India in mid-February 2026, marking his first trip to the country in nearly a year. The visit coincides with India's flagship AI event, the India AI Impact Summit 2026, scheduled to take place in New Delhi from February 16 to 20, which is expected to attract the who's who of the global technology industry.

India AI Impact Summit 2026: A Landmark Event

The India AI Impact Summit 2026 represents India's most ambitious effort yet to establish itself as a major player in the global AI landscape. Hosted at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the summit will bring together an impressive roster of technology leaders, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Indian business titans like Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani are also expected to participate, underscoring the event's significance for both international collaboration and domestic innovation.

The five-day summit features multiple components designed to showcase AI innovation and foster partnerships. The India AI Impact Expo 2026 will feature over 300 exhibitors from India and more than 30 countries across ten thematic pavilions. Additionally, two global impact challenges—AI for All and AI by HER—aim to identify and promote AI solutions that drive large-scale social impact while emphasizing inclusivity and gender equity in technology.

Altman's Strategic Visit and OpenAI's India Agenda

While Altman is not currently listed as a confirmed attendee on the summit's official website, sources familiar with the matter reveal that OpenAI is planning closed-door meetings on the sidelines of the main event. The company is also organizing a dedicated OpenAI event in New Delhi on February 19, inviting venture capitalists and industry executives. These private engagements suggest OpenAI's intention to deepen its relationships with India's enterprise customers, startup ecosystem, and developer community.

This visit would mark Altman's first return to India since February 2025. He had previously indicated plans to visit later in 2025 following OpenAI's announcement of opening a New Delhi office in August, but that trip never materialized. The upcoming visit signals renewed commitment to one of OpenAI's most important markets.

India has emerged as ChatGPT's biggest market by downloads and second-largest by users globally. However, converting this massive user base into paid subscriptions has proven challenging. To address this, OpenAI introduced "ChatGPT Go," a lower-priced subscription plan priced under five dollars, and even offered it free for a year to drive adoption in price-sensitive markets like India.

A Crowded AI Battlefield: Competition Heats Up

Altman's visit comes amid intensifying competition from other AI giants vying for India's attention and market share. Several U.S. technology companies are planning side events around the summit week, recognizing India's strategic importance.

Anthropic, OpenAI's primary competitor, has confirmed it will host a developers' day in Bengaluru on February 16. The company recently announced an office in Bengaluru and appointed former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose as its local head, demonstrating serious commitment to the Indian market.

Nvidia, the GPU manufacturer powering much of the world's AI infrastructure, is also planning an evening event in New Delhi during the summit week. Google and Perplexity have struck partnerships with major Indian telecommunications companies—Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel respectively—to bundle premium AI subscriptions for millions of telecom users, creating new distribution channels that could reshape how AI services reach Indian consumers.

OpenAI's Expanding India Footprint

OpenAI has been actively expanding its presence in India over recent months, hiring across enterprise sales, technical deployment, and legal roles focused on AI regulation. The company currently lists job openings in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru, indicating plans for multi-city operations.

During his visit, Altman is expected to meet with key technology executives, startup founders, and government officials. The meetings will likely focus on expanding ChatGPT's enterprise adoption while maintaining its mass-market appeal. Sources indicate that OpenAI has been engaging with multiple sectors in India, including education and media, exploring sector-specific applications and partnerships.

Infrastructure Ambitions and Challenges

Beyond market expansion, OpenAI is reportedly considering India as a potential base for infrastructure development. This follows major announcements from Google and Microsoft, both of which have committed multibillion-dollar investments to expand their AI and cloud infrastructure footprint in India.

However, India's data center ambitions face significant constraints. Uneven power availability, high energy costs, and water scarcity in several regions pose challenges that could slow infrastructure build-out and raise operating costs for cloud providers. These factors will need to be carefully navigated by any company looking to establish large-scale AI infrastructure in the country.

India's AI Aspirations and Economic Impact

The Indian government has high expectations for the summit's economic impact. The country's IT minister recently stated that the event could help attract as much as 100 billion dollars in investment—a figure that would represent transformative capital for India's technology sector.

The federal government is simultaneously pushing domestic startups to build smaller, specialized AI models for local use cases, with the long-term goal of reducing reliance on U.S.-based systems. This two-pronged approach—welcoming international investment while fostering domestic innovation—reflects India's ambition to be not just a consumer of AI technology but a creator and exporter as well.

Conclusion: India at the AI Crossroads

As Sam Altman prepares for his India visit, the stakes couldn't be higher. India represents a massive opportunity for AI companies—a young, tech-savvy population, a thriving startup ecosystem, and a government eager to embrace digital transformation. The India AI Impact Summit 2026 will serve as a crucial moment for the country to demonstrate its readiness to compete on the global AI stage while attracting the investment and partnerships needed to realize its technological ambitions.