OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank to Build 5 ‘Stargate’ AI Data Centers
▼ Summary
– OpenAI is building five new US data centers under the Stargate initiative, bringing its total planned capacity to nearly 7 gigawatts in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank.
– CEO Sam Altman stated that the scale of AI infrastructure is immense and argued the US must not fall behind, citing Texas as a model for scaling effectively.
– Three sites in Texas, New Mexico, and the Midwest are being developed with Oracle, following a July agreement to add up to 4.5 gigawatts of capacity.
– The projects are expected to create over 25,000 onsite jobs, with two additional sites in Ohio and Texas being developed with SoftBank’s SB Energy.
– Stargate is framed as an umbrella brand for OpenAI’s data center projects and is supported by the Trump administration as a key initiative to secure US leadership in the global AI race.
A major new initiative is set to significantly expand the United States’ artificial intelligence infrastructure. OpenAI, in collaboration with technology giant Oracle and investment firm SoftBank, has announced plans to construct five new AI data centers under the “Stargate” initiative. This ambitious project will bring the total planned capacity for Stargate to nearly 7 gigawatts, a staggering amount of power comparable to the output of seven large nuclear reactors.
During a recent press briefing in Abilene, Texas, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized the unique infrastructural demands of advanced AI. He stated that the United States must maintain a competitive edge and pointed to Texas as a model for scaling such projects effectively, describing the approach as “bigger, faster, cheaper, better.”
Three of the planned facilities will be developed through the partnership between OpenAI and Oracle. These sites are slated for Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and a currently undisclosed location in the Midwest. This expansion builds upon a previous July agreement where the two companies committed to developing up to 4.5 gigawatts of additional data center capacity beyond the initial Stargate site in Abilene. OpenAI projects that the new centers, along with a planned 600-megawatt expansion of the Abilene location, will generate over 25,000 onsite jobs. It is important to note that construction phases typically require a far larger workforce than the long-term operational staffing.
The remaining two data centers are a joint venture between OpenAI and SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary specializing in solar and battery projects. These facilities will be situated in Lordstown, Ohio, and Milam County, Texas.
The Stargate project represents one of the largest technology infrastructure commitments in recent US history, initially announced as a $500 billion, 10-gigawatt plan involving OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX. The stated goal is to secure American leadership in the global AI arena and create hundreds of thousands of domestic jobs. The initiative has received prominent political support, with former President Donald Trump highlighting it shortly after his return to the White House as a key driver for American progress in AI and a tool for competing against nations like China. An AI action plan announced in July further underscored the administration’s focus on accelerating infrastructure development and reducing regulatory barriers to win what officials have termed an “AI race.”
While initially presented as a new company to be chaired by SoftBank’s CEO Masayoshi Son, Stargate is now understood to function as an umbrella brand encompassing all of OpenAI’s data center projects, excluding those developed with Microsoft. The flagship facility in Abilene is primarily owned and operated by Oracle, with OpenAI serving as the main tenant. Managed by the data center startup Crusoe, the Abilene site is reportedly on schedule for completion by mid-2026 and is already operational on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, supporting OpenAI’s training and inference workloads.
(Source: Wired)
