OpenAI announces five new sites for Stargate data center project
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Flagship Stargate site in Abilene, Texas. Photo: Oracle
OpenAI's Stargate data center infrastructure project will add five new sites to provide seven gigawatts of planned capacity over the next three years, the company announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: The push to build massive, power-thirsty data centers is key to winning the AI race.
Between the lines: OpenAI made the announcement at its flagship site in Abilene, Texas, in partnership with Oracle and SoftBank, alongside Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).
- The additional sites will be located in Lordstown, Ohio; Shackelford County, Texas; Milam County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and an additional site in the Midwest to be named later.
- OpenAI said in a blog post that the company is investigating additional sites.
The big picture: OpenAI says the new sites put the firm ahead of schedule to lock in its previously announced $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment by the end of 2025.
- SoftBank CFO Yoshimitsu Goto admitted last month that the Stargate project faced issues with site selection and coordinating stakeholders, putting the project behind schedule.
- But OpenAI says Stargate now has $400 billion of the originally announced $500 billion goal lined up over the next three years.
What they're saying: "AI can only fulfill its promise if we build the compute to power it," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a company blog post Tuesday.
- In a separate post on his personal website Altman warned that limiting compute would force society to make choices between competing priorities — like curing cancer or providing a personalized tutor for "every student on earth."
- "If we are limited by compute, we'll have to choose which one to prioritize; no one wants to make that choice, so let's go build," Altman wrote.
What's next: OpenAI and its partners say they're still evaluating additional sites and expect to announce the location of the new unnamed Midwest location soon.
Go deeper: How is Stargate's $500B getting funded?
