In a move echoing the digital transformation rapidly unfolding across India and the broader East, OpenAI has unveiled its latest advancement — data residency for Asia. This new offering allows enterprises and institutions operating in India, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea to securely store their data within their respective countries, reinforcing both trust and control in the AI-driven age.
With this change, organisations using ChatGPT Enterprise, ChatGPT Edu, and API services can now choose to keep user data, including conversations, uploaded content, prompts, and even visual inputs, stored within local servers rather than being sent across continents. This shift is more than a technical update — it’s a promise of privacy, compliance, and sovereignty.
OpenAI elaborated that “With data residency, eligible API customers and new ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu customers can choose to have customer content stored at rest in supported countries.” This data is guarded with leading-edge security protocols like AES 256-bit encryption for data at rest and TLS 1.2 or above for data in transit, assuring peace of mind in every interaction.
This initiative complements OpenAI’s broader privacy framework, already compliant with globally recognised standards such as GDPR, CCPA, CSA STAR, and SOC 2 Type 2. Organisations across Asia, from startups to academic institutions and industry giants like Kakao, SoftBank, Grab, and Singapore Airlines, are already harnessing these offerings to reimagine their workflows.
The winds of AI are shifting. Earlier this year, OpenAI began dialogues around establishing dedicated data center infrastructure within India, an effort that aligns with the country’s rising digital stature. While current server operations remain anchored in Texas and powered through Microsoft Azure’s global cloud network, India is clearly emerging as a focal point for the AI frontier.
Sam Altman, the mind steering OpenAI, during a recent visit to India, expressed his vision with clarity and hope: “I see people in India are building with AI at all levels of the stack – chips, models, you know, all of the incredible applications. So, I think India should be doing everything. I think India should be one of the leaders of the AI revolution.”
Indeed, with India now OpenAI’s second-largest market and its user base having tripled in just a year, this data residency milestone feels less like a feature and more like a declaration.
Also read: Viksit Workforce for a Viksit Bharat
Do Follow: The Mainstream formerly known as CIO News LinkedIn Account | The Mainstream formerly known as CIO News Facebook | The Mainstream formerly known as CIO News Youtube | The Mainstream formerly known as CIO News Twitter |The Mainstream formerly known as CIO News Whatsapp Channel | The Mainstream formerly known as CIO News Instagram
About us:
The Mainstream formerly known as CIO News is a premier platform dedicated to delivering latest news, updates, and insights from the tech industry. With its strong foundation of intellectual property and thought leadership, the platform is well-positioned to stay ahead of the curve and lead conversations about how technology shapes our world. From its early days as CIO News to its rebranding as The Mainstream on November 28, 2024, it has been expanding its global reach, targeting key markets in the Middle East & Africa, ASEAN, the USA, and the UK. The Mainstream is a vision to put technology at the center of every conversation, inspiring professionals and organizations to embrace the future of tech.
