OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is expected to visit India in mid-February, marking his first trip to the country in nearly a year, sources told TechCrunch. His visit coincides with the India AI Impact Summit 2026 in New Delhi from February 16 to 20, which will bring together global AI leaders, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, alongside top Indian executives such as Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani. Altman is not currently listed as a confirmed attendee.
According to sources, OpenAI is planning closed-door meetings on the sidelines of the summit in New Delhi, where Altman is expected to participate. The company is also hosting a separate OpenAI event in New Delhi on February 19, inviting venture capitalists and industry executives. Plans have not been publicly announced and remain subject to change.
Several other U.S. AI companies are also hosting side events around summit week. Anthropic is holding a developers’ day in Bengaluru on February 16, while Nvidia is planning an evening event in New Delhi, underscoring global AI firms’ growing engagement with India’s enterprise customers, startups, and developer community.
Altman’s upcoming trip follows his February 2025 visit and comes after OpenAI announced a New Delhi office in August 2025. India has emerged as a key growth market for American AI companies. Anthropic has opened an office in Bengaluru, appointing former Microsoft India managing director Irina Ghose as its local head, while Google and Perplexity have partnered with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, respectively, to provide premium AI subscriptions to millions of users.
OpenAI has been ramping up its India presence, hiring across enterprise sales, technical deployment, and legal roles focused on AI regulation. The company currently lists openings in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. India is ChatGPT’s largest market by downloads and second largest by users. To boost subscriptions, OpenAI introduced the low-cost “ChatGPT Go” plan last year, priced under $5, and offered a free one-year plan.
During the visit, Altman is expected to meet tech executives, startup founders, and government officials as OpenAI seeks to expand enterprise adoption of ChatGPT while broadening its mass-market reach. The company is engaging multiple sectors in India, including education and media, and is evaluating the country as a potential base for infrastructure expansion.
While Google and Microsoft have made multibillion-dollar investments in India to expand their AI and cloud footprint, challenges such as uneven power supply, high energy costs, and water scarcity may affect the build-out of AI infrastructure. Nevertheless, the Indian government hopes the summit will reinforce India as a destination for large-scale AI investment, with projections of up to $100 billion in potential investment. Domestic startups are also being encouraged to develop smaller models for local applications, reducing reliance on U.S.-based systems.
OpenAI, India’s IT ministry, and the summit organizers did not respond to requests for comment.
