OpenAI Plans To Open New Office In Berlin

SAN FRANCISCO/BERLIN, Aug 14 (Bernama-dpa) -- United States (US) artificial intelligence giant OpenAI is expanding its presence in Germany and plans to open a second site in Berlin, CEO Sam Altman told Handelsblatt in an interview published on Friday, reported German Press Agency (dpa).

OpenAI's only presence to date in Germany is an office in Munich. Altman told the paper that he favours building the company's own data centres in Germany to secure growing demand for AI infrastructure.

The exact opening date for the new Berlin office has not yet been set, but Altman said it would happen soon.

Germany is the biggest market in Europe for OpenAI's ChatGPT service for paying subscribers, according to the company, and it ranks among the global top three.

Altman told the paper that Germany is one of the company's largest and fastest-growing markets.

The German economy is making strong use of AI and is a key partner. Altman cited cooperation with Deutsche Telekom as an example. 

Alongside expanding its office locations, the company is exploring options to build local infrastructure to meet rapidly rising demand for the computing power needed to run and train modern AI models.

Altman said he had already held talks with government representatives in Berlin about a potential data centre in Germany, but nothing concrete came of them.

The OpenAI chief said countries ultimately have to decide whether to build their own data centres or rent capacity from other countries. He said he hoped Germany would opt for the former.

Regardless, Germany as a business location is already benefiting from the deep integration of modern AI applications, Altman said.

-- BERNAMA-dpa