OpenAI CEO Sam Altman met with India's IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday to discuss India's vision of developing a low-cost AI ecosystem. Vaishnaw shared on X that the meeting centred on India's strategy to build a comprehensive AI stack, including GPUs, models, and applications. He noted that OpenAI expressed interest in collaborating on all three aspects.

Altman's visit to India, his first since 2023, comes amid ongoing legal challenges the company faces in the country, which is its second-largest market by user numbers. Vaishnaw recently praised Chinese startup DeepSeek for its affordable AI assistant, drawing parallels between DeepSeek's cost-effective approach and India's goal of creating a budget-friendly AI model. Vaishnaw highlighted India's ability to achieve major technological feats at a fraction of the cost, as demonstrated by its moon mission.

Altman's trip also included stops in Japan and South Korea, where he secured deals with SoftBank and Kakao. In Seoul, he discussed the Stargate AI data centre project with SoftBank and Samsung, a venture backed by US President Donald Trump.