OpenAI and Oracle are expanding the Stargate AI infrastructure project with an additional 4.5 GW of data center capacity, bringing the total U.S. development to over 5 GW. This massive buildout advances OpenAI’s commitment to invest $500 billion in 10 GW of AI infrastructure over four years, while creating over 100,000 jobs across construction, operations, and related industries.
What you should know: The expansion represents a significant leap in AI infrastructure development, with real operations already underway.
- The combined capacity will power over 2 million chips across Stargate facilities, designed specifically for AI workloads that traditional data centers can’t handle.
- Construction of Stargate I in Abilene, Texas is progressing with parts of the facility now operational, including early training and inference workloads.
- Oracle began delivering Nvidia GB200 racks last month, enabling OpenAI to “push the limits of next-generation frontier research.”
Job creation impact: The project is generating substantial employment across multiple sectors and skill levels.
- Over 100,000 jobs are expected across construction, operations, manufacturing, and services, including both direct full-time positions and indirect roles.
- The Abilene site has already created thousands of jobs, with specialized roles for “electricians, equipment operators, and technicians hailing from more than 20 states.”
- Additional employment opportunities will expand as operations scale across multiple facilities.
Strategic partnerships: The initiative involves multiple major players beyond Oracle, creating a comprehensive AI infrastructure ecosystem.
- SoftBank, a Japanese investment firm, continues as a key partner, with OpenAI noting “strong momentum” in site assessments and reimagining data center design for advanced AI.
- Microsoft will continue providing cloud services for OpenAI through the Stargate platform, maintaining their existing partnership structure.
- CoreWeave also participates in ongoing data center partnerships within the broader Stargate framework.
Global expansion plans: OpenAI is extending Stargate internationally through “OpenAI for Countries,” offering infrastructure partnerships with national governments.
- The initiative helps build local AI data center capacity in coordination with the U.S. administration.
- These secure facilities will “support the sovereignty of a country’s data, build new local industries, and make it easy to customize AI and leverage their data in a private and compliant way.”
Why this matters: The AI boom is straining existing infrastructure, requiring purpose-built facilities designed from the ground up for AI workloads.
- Large AI models demand thousands of GPUs (graphics processing units), advanced cooling systems, and enormous electricity consumption, especially for training.
- Traditional data centers simply can’t meet the scale or energy demands of modern AI systems.
- Stargate aims to provide sufficient capacity for growing AI demand across scientific research, healthcare, automation, defense, and finance sectors.
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