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OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announce the launch of five new AI data centre sites in the US, part of a $400 billion project aiming for 10 gigawatts of capacity by 2025, promising significant technological and economic growth.
OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank have taken a significant step forward in their ambitious Stargate project, announcing the launch of five new AI data centre sites across the United States. This expansion is part of OpenAI’s overarching AI infrastructure platform, designed to build unprecedented computational capacity to power next-generation artificial intelligence models.
The five new data centres, combined with the existing flagship facility in Abilene, Texas, and ongoing projects with CoreWeave, bring the Stargate initiative close to achieving nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity. This expansion is backed by an investment exceeding $400 billion over the next three years, pushing the project well ahead of schedule towards its ultimate goal of delivering 10 gigawatts of AI computing power by the end of 2025. Together, these sites have the potential to create over 25,000 onsite jobs, as well as tens of thousands more across the U.S. economy, signalling a major boost to job creation and industrial growth.
Among the new sites, three are being developed in partnership with Oracle, located in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and an undisclosed location in the Midwest, with plans for further expansion near Abilene. Oracle’s CEO, Clay Magouyrk, emphasised the company’s role in providing reliable, scalable, and secure AI infrastructure that supports OpenAI’s rapid growth. Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) has already made progress at the Abilene campus, including the deployment of the first NVIDIA GB200 GPU racks, which underscores the scale and sophistication of the computing resources involved.
The other two new data centres are being developed via a collaboration between SoftBank and OpenAI. One is located in Lordstown, Ohio, where construction has started on an advanced data centre design expected to be operational next year. The second site, in Milam County, Texas, is being built with support from SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company offering powered infrastructure aimed at rapid deployment. This partnership with SoftBank complements Oracle’s efforts by enhancing scalability, accelerating build times, and improving cost efficiency, making high-performance AI compute more accessible.
The Stargate project, launched earlier this year with strong support from across the industry and government sectors, is positioned as a critical driver of U.S. leadership in AI technology. The initiative promises to significantly bolster America’s technological infrastructure and contribute to its reindustrialisation efforts by creating thousands of skilled jobs and fostering innovation in the AI field.
OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, highlighted the central importance of compute infrastructure for AI’s future: “AI can only fulfil its promise if we build the compute to power it. That compute is the key to ensuring everyone can benefit from AI and to unlocking future breakthroughs.” His remarks underscore the foundational role that these data centres will play in enabling more powerful and more accessible AI systems.
Supporting the broader ecosystem, OpenAI has also strengthened its collaboration with CoreWeave through a separate multibillion-dollar contract, bringing the total value of their partnership to over $22 billion. CoreWeave’s involvement further anchors OpenAI’s formidable infrastructure ambitions.
Additionally, the project’s supply chain commitments have reached a global level. Recently, major South Korean semiconductor companies Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix signed letters of intent to supply memory chips for Stargate. This arrangement, revealed after high-level meetings involving OpenAI’s leadership and South Korean officials, may see chip supplies reaching 900,000 wafers monthly. It highlights the critical role of global manufacturers in supporting the massive hardware demands of AI infrastructure at this scale.
In summary, the Stargate project represents one of the largest and most ambitious AI infrastructure expansions worldwide, with a remarkable $500 billion investment and a targeted 10-gigawatt capacity that will power the future of artificial intelligence. The new data centres in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and the Midwest are pivotal components of this vision, promising to deliver substantial economic, technological, and employment benefits in the years ahead.
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Source: Noah Wire Services
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