OpenAI's Stargate AI data centers expand with Oracle and SoftBank, targeting the U.S. rollout

Abilene, Texas — OpenAI on Tuesday unveiled Stargate, the eight-building AI data center complex that will power ChatGPT and anchor a plan to build five additional Stargate centers around the United States in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank. The project forms a centerpiece of a broader push to scale the company’s computing infrastructure, which OpenAI has described as essential to expanding AI capabilities and output. The rollout arrives as the partners aim to translate a multibillion- to multihundred-billion-dollar infrastructure agenda promoted by then-President Donald Trump earlier this year into concrete facilities and jobs across the country.

Oracle executives visiting the Abilene site said the complex is on track to become the world’s largest AI supercluster, a reference to a network of hundreds of thousands of Nvidia chips configured to run the company’s most demanding AI workloads. The eight-building campus is designed to house roughly 60,000 Nvidia GB200 chips per building, with each server rack holding 72 chips. One building is already operating, and a second that OpenAI and Oracle executives visited Tuesday is nearly complete. Altman and Oracle co-CEO Clay Magouyrk stressed that the scale and engineering are intended to deliver fast, reliable AI services while addressing environmental and public-water concerns in a drought-prone region. Altman noted a central operational idea, saying, “When you hit that button on ChatGPT, you really don’t — I don’t, at least — think about what happens inside the data halls used to build and operate the chatbot,” underscoring the company’s push to externalize the user-facing experience from the behind-the-scenes infrastructure. Magouyrk added that the design emphasizes not using water where possible and advancing a closed-loop cooling approach to minimize freshwater use.

The Stargate project backbone involves a heavy draw on electricity. The eight buildings are expected to require about 900 megawatts of power to operate at full capacity. Most of the energy will come from the local grid, a mix that includes natural gas as well as nearby wind and solar farms. In a nod to reliability, the complex includes a gas-fired power plant intended as a backup source for the data halls and to avoid the emissions profile of diesel generators. The developers say the primary strategy is to reduce water consumption and rely on water-efficient cooling, though the cooling system will require an initial water fill before it can cycle and operate. The initial fill is estimated at about one million gallons, after which the project expects each building to use roughly 12,000 gallons per year—a relatively modest figure given the scale, according to Oracle’s representatives. The companies say the approach is designed to minimize freshwater use, but independent observers note that powering a data center network at this scale increases indirect water use through electricity generation and associated cooling needs.

The Abilene project has been promoted as a boon to the local economy, with more than 6,000 workers commuting to the site daily during construction and an onsite workforce expected to reach roughly 1,700 once the operation is fully online. Hand-painted “move-in-ready” signs line some of the roads into the area, reflecting the hope that new housing stock will accommodate workers who move to the region. Yet residents living near the site have mixed feelings about the project’s footprint. Mayor Weldon Hurt said the project has transformed what was an old railroad town, noting the potential for substantial economic benefits but acknowledging concerns about water and energy use. The city’s reservoirs have been strained, running at roughly half capacity, and residents follow a two-day-per-week outdoor watering schedule as part of ongoing water-management restrictions.

“The water situation is a real factor,” said Arlene Mendler, a Stargate neighbor who lives across from the construction zone. “It has completely changed the way we were living.” Her husband, Fred Mendler, described the loss of surrounding mesquite shrubland that previously provided habitat for coyotes and roadrunners and the daily disruption from construction activity and brighter nighttime lighting. The couple said the project was essentially a done deal once they learned of it, underscoring the broad public debate about how much the community should adapt to the new facility.

Beyond Abilene, Stargate is expanding with two more sites in Texas and others across the United States. Oracle and OpenAI are building a site northeast of Abilene in Shackelford County, Texas, and another in Doña Ana County, New Mexico. A separate project is in the Midwest, and SoftBank has announced groundbreakings in Lordstown, Ohio, and Milam County, Texas. The partner group described five additional sites in total, with the Midwest location yet to be disclosed. The plan also marks a shift in OpenAI’s computing strategy, giving the company additional room to scale beyond its longstanding relationship with Microsoft, which had been its exclusive computing partner for several years.

Sen. Ted Cruz, who toured the site with other officials, called Texas “ground zero for AI,” saying that the state’s abundant energy supply provides a favorable environment for large-scale AI infrastructure during a time of rising data-center demand. The tour came as Trump’s infrastructure proposal has circulated within political discussions about the country’s AI ambitions. OpenAI and Oracle officials also highlighted a large computing capacity agreement that has been described as a $300 billion deal to purchase significant computing resources from Oracle to support Stargate’s operations.

Altman told the Associated Press that the company has historically faced limits on what it can offer to users given compute constraints, adding that ChatGPT remains slower and less capable than ideal. “We have many other ideas and products we want to build,” he said, signaling that Stargate is only one part of a broader plan to expand OpenAI’s reach and capabilities while advancing energy- and water-conscious engineering practices as AI infrastructure scales across the country.