OpenAI appoints Sandhya Devanathan from Meta to oversee its operations in Southeast Asia and Australia.

      OpenAI has appointed Sandhya Devanathan from Meta to oversee operations in Southeast Asia and Australia starting in October. This newly established role encompasses responsibilities related to consumer growth, enterprise adoption, and regulatory interactions within markets that collectively host over 600 million individuals. The company’s European expansion has mainly focused on Dublin and Brussels.

      Devanathan’s responsibilities are comprehensive and commercially driven. She will manage consumer growth, enterprise adoption, partnerships, operations, and regulatory engagement from Singapore.

      Her appointment marks the third significant regional hire in a span of six months, following Kiran Mani's appointment as managing director for Asia-Pacific in March, and Prabhjeet Singh's arrival from Uber in June to lead operations in India.

      The urgency behind these appointments is illustrated by user demographics; Indonesia and the Philippines rank among OpenAI’s top ten global markets for ChatGPT users.

      In contrast, no European countries are mentioned as top markets by OpenAI. The focus on Europe has been characterized by a different kind of investment, with the establishment of offices in Paris and Brussels alongside London and Dublin. Dublin was selected specifically for its closeness to regulatory key players.

      OpenAI’s investment in Ireland is quite substantial, with plans to expand its Dublin office from just over 100 staff to around 350 employees, securing 88,000 square feet in Silicon Docks for engineering and support positions.

      The rationale for choosing Dublin is noteworthy, including advantages such as market access, an English-speaking workforce, and a stable corporate tax environment alluding to a headquarters rather than merely a growing market.

      There is a clear distinction in focus: Asia is acquiring country managers with a mandate for revenue generation, while Europe is getting a formal legal entity and a policy team aimed at an enforcement unit comprising 36 personnel.

      OpenAI’s perspective on European operations seems to resonate with a broader industry trend. Anthropic, for instance, has also opened offices in Paris and Munich this year, adopting a similar approach in its European hiring strategies.

      This isn’t to suggest that Europe is being overlooked; rather, it highlights the industry's concern, as noted by TNW during a gathering in France, where the emphasis was on the fear of dependence rather than absence.

      Thus, the intriguing question focuses not on where OpenAI establishes its offices, but rather on the nature of operations set up in these locations, with Europe continually being chosen primarily for administrative functions.

      Published August 28, 2026 - 8:44 am UTC

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