OpenAI said it will partner with Japanese conglomerates SoftBank and Oracle to build several other data centers for AI in the US.
The joint venture, called The Stargate Project, will begin with a large data center project in Texas and eventually expand to other states. The companies have committed $100 billion to Stargate initially, and are expected to add up to $500 billion to the joint venture over the next four years.
They promise to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and secure American leadership in AI.
“The Stargate Project is a new company that aims to (build) a new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States,” OpenAI said. Oracle and SoftBank jointly spoke. Statement. “This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States, but will also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of the United States and its allies.”
During a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, President Donald Trump spoke about companies' plans to invest in America's infrastructure. Masayoshi Son, head of SoftBank; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison attended.
Microsoft also joined Stargate as a technology partner. Arm and Nvidia. Middle East AI fund MGX will join SoftBank in its investment. MGX's First public agreement An investment in OpenAI.
SoftBank OpenAI and Oracle are listed as “initial equity investors” in Stargate.
“SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility,” the statement continued. “Masayoshi Son (Stargate) (…) is Stargate; Oracle As part of Nvidia and OpenAI, we will work closely together to build and operate this computing system.”
Data centers may one day roll out chips designed by OpenAI. The company He said the team is being built aggressively. of chip designers and engineers; Working with semiconductor companies Broadcom and TSMC to create an AI chip for models coming as soon as 2026.
SoftBank is already an investor in OpenAI. Received news. $500 million pledged to AI startups. Final funding and one Additional $1.5 billion to allow OpenAI employees to sell shares in a tender offer. In progress at Oracle. Agreement and OpenAI to support AI computing resources.
Softbank too. It was promised earlier. To invest $100 billion in the United States over the next four years. Son and Trump have had a close relationship since 2016, during Trump's first term, when Son announced that SoftBank would invest $50 billion in US startups and create 50,000 jobs.
The news was before reported. OpenAI is negotiating with Oracle to lease an entire data center in Abilene, Texas, which could reach nearly one gigawatt of electricity by mid-2026. (1 gigawatt of electricity is enough to power roughly 750,000 small homes.) Starting a data center Crusoe energy It is said to have happened. included. The project is estimated to cost about US$3.4 billion.
The Abilene site will be Stargate's first site. Stargate is “evaluating potential sites around the country for additional campuses,” and (it) is in the process of finalizing specific agreements.
It's unclear if Stargate is connected to the rumored partnership between Microsoft and OpenAI to spin off a $100 billion supercomputer. TechCrunch has reached out to OpenAI for more information.
Ministry of Information last year reported. Microsoft and OpenAI will continue to build data centers for AI over the next several years, starting in five phases. Stargate is a 5 gigawatt facility spread over hundreds of acres. Stargate will take between five and six years to complete, according to The Information. Upon its completion, Microsoft reportedly plans to launch a small data center for OpenAI around 2026.
Some tech leaders have called on the U.S. to step up its investment in data centers, especially as the AI industry continues to grow rapidly. AI systems require large server banks to develop and operate at scale.
Goldman Sachs Estimates AI will represent about 19% of data center power demand by 2028. In OpenAI blamed A lack of computers and computing power has been a source of delays in its products. tension between AI company and Microsoft; Its close collaborator and major investor.
Microsoft recently announced that it is on track to spend $80 billion on AI data centers. Blog post The company's success depends on “new partnerships built on large-scale infrastructure investments.” in one Interview With Bloomberg, Altman said he believes there is an urgent need to remove what he sees as barriers to building additional data centers in the US.
“The thing that I really strongly agree with (President Trump) is how hard it is to build in America is outrageous,” Altman said in that interview. “Power plants, data centers; That kind of thing. I understand how the bureaucracy is poorly constructed; But in general, it does not help the country.”
There are critics who say that large data center projects tend to create data centers. more or less. Jobs Than Promised. Environmental damage is often severe. Data centers are typically water-hungry and strained in regions with scarce water resources, and some utilities rely on fossil fuels due to their high power requirements.
Those concerns don't appear to have slowed investment. For a McKinsey ReportCapital spending on purchasing and installing mechanical and electrical systems for data centers could exceed $250 billion over the next five years.
Trump announced in January. Emirati billionaire businessman Hussain Sajwani, who founded real estate development giant DAMAC Properties; Will invest. US industry insiders have expressed skepticism about the $20 billion in new data centers. Firmness of AgreementHowever,