OpenAI has officially partnered with Oracle on a monumental project to expand its Stargate AI data center initiative—an effort that represents the physical backbone of the AI revolution.
While discussions about AI often focus on software or ethics, this partnership shines a light on the massive infrastructure powering it. We’re talking about steel, concrete, fiber optics, and enough electricity to rival the consumption of a large city.
Together, OpenAI and Oracle will construct new data centers across the United States, with a combined power capacity of 4.5 gigawatts. That’s a staggering figure—enough to power millions of homes—and it’s all being built to fuel the next generation of AI systems.
This isn’t just an incremental upgrade. It’s a central piece of OpenAI’s ambitious Stargate initiative, which aims to deliver computing power on a scale never seen before to make advanced AI universally accessible.
Add this to OpenAI’s Abilene, Texas project, and the company is now developing more than 5 gigawatts of total capacity—enough to support over two million high-end AI chips.
The deal also highlights OpenAI’s commitment to a promise made at the White House earlier this year—to invest up to $500 billion in US-based AI infrastructure. With support from Oracle and SoftBank, OpenAI now expects to exceed that original target.
But this project is about more than technology. It’s about people. OpenAI estimates that Stargate will generate over 100,000 jobs in areas like construction, electrical engineering, and full-time AI operations.
In Abilene, construction is already underway. The first deliveries of Nvidia’s latest GB200 chips have arrived, and OpenAI researchers are already experimenting with them to power the next wave of AI innovation.
The Stargate initiative is not just a two-party effort. While Oracle brings hardware and facilities, SoftBank is reimagining data center architecture, and Microsoft, OpenAI’s key cloud partner, is delivering the networking infrastructure to tie everything together.
Beneath the glossy surface of the AI boom lies an extraordinary human and industrial effort. Stargate is a reminder that our digital future depends not only on code, but on cables, concrete, and commitment.