Cognizant and OpenAI Partner to Reshape Enterprise Software Engineering with Codex

Recognized by OpenAI for its AI builder capabilities, Cognizant is embedding Codex across its global software engineering organization and working with OpenAI to bring Codex-driven development to clients across industries.

TEANECK, N.J., April 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) announced it has been named among a select group of partners chosen by OpenAI to scale the impact of Codex across enterprise clients worldwide. Cognizant is embedding Codex directly into its engineering workflows across its Software Engineering Group, with the goal of making it a standardized capability for how Cognizant builds and delivers software.

OpenAI is working with a group of leading global systems integrators chosen for their ability to deploy and scale Codex inside complex enterprise environments and deliver the services enabled by those capabilities to clients. Cognizant's selection reflects its track record as an AI builder: designing, deploying and operating AI-powered systems at enterprise scale, across industries and in its own operations.

"The best engineering organizations of the next decade will not be defined by how many engineers they have, but by how effectively human judgment and AI capability work as one," said Rajesh Varrier, President – Operations, and Chairman and Managing Director, Cognizant India. "We are embedding Codex as a partner in how our engineers work – handling code generation, refactoring, testing and documentation – so our teams can apply human judgment where it is needed most. OpenAI brings frontier intelligence. Cognizant brings enterprise scale, deep industry expertise and the governance rigor that industry requires."

Cognizant engineers are already applying Codex across the software development lifecycle in client engagements, including AI and machine learning model development, code refactoring, agentic solution development and legacy system modernization. These deployments demonstrate Codex's ability to help accelerate delivery cycles, support improve code quality and help reduce the cost and risk of large-scale modernization programs, including the kind of legacy transformation work that has historically stalled for years due to complexity, regulatory risk and tribal knowledge dependencies.

"Codex is becoming a powerful workspace for managing agents across software development and business workflows. As enterprises move quickly to put Codex to work, we're working with leading partners like Cognizant to help more organizations move from early usage to repeatable deployment," said Denise Dresser, Chief Revenue Officer, OpenAI. "Cognizant's deep expertise in large-scale software transformation enables enterprises to deploy Codex across areas like legacy code modernization, code review automation, vulnerability detection, and application development, while extending its impact to the systems and workflows where knowledge work gets done. We will work together to bring Codex to organizations worldwide."

The partnership adds OpenAI's Codex capabilities to Cognizant's AI builder stack, which spans the leading AI platforms and hyperscalers. Cognizant's AI builder strategy is built on the principle that closing the gap between AI investment and business outcomes requires more than access to frontier models, it requires enterprise context, workflow integration and accountability for delivery and operational integration in production.

Through this partnership Cognizant and OpenAI aim to work together to bring AI-powered engineering, modernization and security compliance capabilities to clients across industries, with a focus on reducing complexity, accelerating delivery and building the governance rigor necessary for enterprise scale adoption.

About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is an AI builder and technology services provider, building the bridge between AI investment and enterprise value by building full-stack AI solutions for our clients. Our deep industry, process and engineering expertise enables us to build an organization's unique context into technology systems that amplify human potential, realize tangible returns and keep global enterprises ahead in a fast-changing world. See how at www.cognizant.com or @cognizant.

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