OpenAI is moving deeper into physical infrastructure with the Stargate Project, a new U.S. data center venture backed by SoftBank and Oracle. The plan starts in Texas and could grow into one of the largest AI infrastructure efforts described by the companies.
The companies expect to commit $100 billion at the outset and potentially invest up to $500 billion over the next four years. The goal is to build the computing capacity needed for advanced AI systems, a bottleneck that has become central to the industry’s next phase.
What Stargate Is Built To Do
Stargate is described as a new company that will build new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. The first site will be in Abilene, Texas, and the project is expected to expand to other states as more campuses are evaluated.
OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank said the effort is intended to support U.S. industrial capacity and national security. In their joint statement, they said the project would provide “a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
The venture also carries a large jobs promise. The companies said Stargate will create “hundreds of thousands” of jobs and help “secure American leadership in AI.”
The structure puts SoftBank and OpenAI in the lead. SoftBank has financial responsibility, while OpenAI has operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will serve as chairman of Stargate.
The Companies Behind The AI Infrastructure Push
SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle are listed as “initial equity investors” in Stargate. MGX, a Middle East AI fund, will invest alongside SoftBank. MGX’s first public deal was an investment in OpenAI.
Microsoft is involved as a technology partner, as are Arm and Nvidia. Oracle, Nvidia and OpenAI are expected to work together to build and operate the computing system.
The project also builds on existing relationships. SoftBank is already an OpenAI investor, having reportedly committed $500 million toward OpenAI’s last funding round and an additional $1.5 billion tied to a tender offer that let OpenAI staff sell shares. Oracle already has a deal with OpenAI to provide AI computing resources.
SoftBank has separately pledged to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. Masayoshi Son and President Donald Trump have a working relationship that dates to 2016, when Son announced that SoftBank would invest $50 billion in U.S. startups and create 50,000 jobs.
Why Texas Comes First
The Abilene, Texas site is set to become Stargate’s first location. The Information previously reported that OpenAI had been negotiating with Oracle to lease an entire data center there.
That reported site could reach nearly a gigawatt of electricity by mid-2026. The source article notes that a gigawatt is enough to power roughly 750,000 small homes. Data center startup Crusoe Energy was said to be involved, and the project was estimated to cost around $3.4 billion.
Stargate may scale far beyond one campus. OpenAI said the company is evaluating possible sites across the country as it finalizes definitive agreements. By 2029, Stargate could reach 20 data center installations.
At the White House briefing, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison described the scale of the construction already underway: “Each building is a half a million square feet,” he said. “There are 10 buildings currently being built.”
The Compute Race Behind Stargate
AI models require large server banks to train and operate at scale. That has made data center capacity a strategic issue for the companies building and deploying AI systems.
OpenAI has blamed limited compute availability for product delays, and compute capacity has reportedly become a source of tension between OpenAI and Microsoft. Microsoft recently said it is on track to spend $80 billion on AI data centers.
Goldman Sachs estimates that AI will represent about 19% of data center power demand by 2028. Microsoft has also said its success depends on “new partnerships founded on large-scale infrastructure investments.”
The Stargate plan may also connect to OpenAI’s broader hardware ambitions. The source article says the data centers could someday house chips designed by OpenAI, which is said to be building a team of chip designers and engineers and working with Broadcom and TSMC on an AI chip for running models that could arrive as soon as 2026.
The Questions Still Hanging Over Big AI Data Centers
Stargate arrives as tech leaders push for more U.S. data center investment. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has argued that barriers to building infrastructure in the United States should be removed. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said, “The thing I really deeply agree with [President Trump] on is, it is wild how difficult it has become to build things in the United States.”
Large data center projects also face criticism. Opponents say data centers can deliver fewer jobs than promised and may create environmental pressure. The source article notes concerns about water use and high electricity needs, including cases where utilities have leaned heavily on fossil fuels.
Those concerns have not stopped capital from moving toward AI infrastructure. A McKinsey report said capital spending on procurement and installation of mechanical and electrical systems for data centers could eclipse $250 billion in the next five years.
Stargate is one of several large infrastructure efforts tied to AI. Trump announced in January that Hussain Sajwani, founder of DAMAC Properties, will invest $20 billion in new U.S. data centers, though industry insiders have questioned how concrete that deal is. Separately, Microsoft and BlackRock formed the Global Artificial Intelligence Infrastructure Investment Partnership, or GAIIP, to gather up to $100 billion for AI data centers and related power infrastructure.
For OpenAI, Stargate signals that the next stage of AI competition is not only about models. It is also about land, power, chips, partnerships and the ability to build at a scale that can keep up with demand.