OpenAI is accelerating its expansion in the Asian market, promoting the affordable subscription plan "ChatGPT Go", which costs less than $5 per month, to 16 new Asian countries. This move comes as the company's weekly active user base in Southeast Asia has grown by as much as four times.
Launch and Payment Details
The "ChatGPT Go" plan is now available in:Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor-Leste, and Vietnam.
To better adapt to local markets, OpenAI allows users inMalaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Pakistan to pay in local currencies. In other countries, users must pay in US dollars, with prices approximately $5, and the exact cost may vary based on local taxes.
Value and Strategic Significance of the Go Plan
This plan aims to expand the user base, especially in high-growth Asian markets. It was previously launched in India in August and in Indonesia in September. OpenAI reported that after the launch in India, the number of paid subscribers has increased by a factor of two.
The benefits of the "ChatGPT Go" plan include:
Higher daily usage limits: covering message sending, image generation, and file or image uploads.
Double memory capacity: twice the memory of the free plan, enabling more personalized responses.
The affordable subscription plan is seen as a key step for OpenAI to achieve its profitability goals. Despite rapid growth (recent valuation of $500 billion), OpenAI reported an operating loss of $7.8 billion in the first half of 2025 due to continued heavy investment in AI infrastructure.
Industry Competition and Platform Evolution
OpenAI's expansion is directly competing with Google. Google launched a similar-priced Google AI Plus plan in Indonesia in September, followed by expansion to 40 countries, offering access to advanced Gemini 2.5 Pro models and creative tools such as Flow, Whisk, and Veo 3 Fast.
This expansion comes at a critical time for OpenAI. At this week's DevDay 2025 conference, CEO Sam Altman announced that ChatGPT's global weekly active users have reached 800 million, up from 700 million in August. Additionally, OpenAI announced a major platform shift, transforming ChatGPT into a application store-like ecosystem, introducing applications that run directly within the chatbot, with partners including Spotify, DoorDash, and Uber.
As Nick Tolley, head of ChatGPT, stated: "The evolution we are trying to achieve in the coming years is to make ChatGPT itself more like an operating system, where users can use various applications."
