The Massive Scale of OpenAI’s Six Data Centers
▼ Summary
– OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced five new US AI data center sites for the Stargate project, bringing planned capacity to nearly 7 gigawatts and investment over $400 billion.
– The expansion aims to support ChatGPT’s 700 million weekly users and train future AI models, with a goal to reach a $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment by the end of 2025.
– Three sites are from an OpenAI-Oracle partnership in Texas, New Mexico, and the Midwest, plus a Texas expansion, contributing over 5.5 gigawatts of capacity and creating over 25,000 onsite jobs.
– Two sites are from a SoftBank-OpenAI partnership in Ohio and Texas, which may scale to 1.5 gigawatts of capacity over the next 18 months.
– The new sites will join the flagship Stargate campus in Abilene, Texas, where Oracle is delivering Nvidia hardware and OpenAI is already conducting AI training and running ChatGPT.
A major expansion is underway for the joint AI infrastructure initiative known as Stargate, with OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank revealing plans for five new US data center locations. This ambitious buildout is projected to push the platform’s total planned capacity close to 7 gigawatts, backed by an investment exceeding $400 billion over the coming three years. The primary goal is to manage the immense computational demands of serving ChatGPT’s 700 million weekly users while also training the next generation of artificial intelligence models. While the scale of the financial commitment has drawn some scrutiny regarding its long-term viability, the partners assert they are on schedule to meet their initial $500 billion, 10-gigawatt target by the end of 2025.
Three of the new facilities are the result of the collaboration between OpenAI and Oracle. These will be situated in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and an undisclosed location in the Midwest. Combined with a significant 600-megawatt expansion adjacent to the original Stargate campus in Abilene, Texas, this part of the project is expected to contribute over 5.5 gigawatts of capacity. To put that into perspective, the computing equipment at these sites will be capable of drawing up to 5.5 billion watts of electricity during peak operation. The development is also anticipated to generate more than 25,000 on-site employment opportunities.
The remaining two sites fall under a separate partnership involving SoftBank and OpenAI. Construction has already begun on one facility in Lordstown, Ohio, which is scheduled to become operational next year. The second site will be developed in Milam County, Texas, in conjunction with SB Energy, a subsidiary of the SoftBank Group. Together, these two locations have the potential to scale their capacity to 1.5 gigawatts within the next 18 months.
All these new sites will augment the flagship Stargate data center located in Abilene, Texas. Oracle started shipping Nvidia hardware to that location in June, and OpenAI is already utilizing the facility for both training new AI models and running the inference processes that power ChatGPT.
(Source: Ars Technica)
