Credit: OpenAI

On Tuesday, OpenAI announced a partnership with Oracle to develop 4.5 gigawatts of additional data center capacity for its Stargate AI infrastructure platform in the US. The expansion, which TechCrunch reports is part of a $30 billion per year deal between OpenAI and Oracle, will reportedly bring OpenAI's total Stargate capacity under development to over 5 gigawatts.

The data center has taken root in Abilene, Texas, a city of 127,000 located 150 miles west of Fort Worth. The city, which serves as the commercial hub of a 19-county region known as the "Big Country," offers a location with existing tech infrastructure, including Dyess Air Force Base and three universities. Abilene's economy has evolved over time from its agricultural and livestock roots to embrace technology and manufacturing sectors.

"We have signed a deal for an additional 4.5 gigawatts of capacity with oracle as part of stargate. easy to throw around numbers, but this is a gigantic infrastructure project," wrote OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on X. "We are planning to significantly expand the ambitions of stargate past the $500 billion commitment we announced in January."

The new agreement builds on OpenAI's initial $500 billion commitment announced at the White House in January to invest in 10 gigawatts of AI infrastructure over four years. The company estimates that the 4.5 GW expansion will generate jobs across construction and operations roles, including direct full-time positions, short-term construction work, and indirect manufacturing and service jobs.

The 5 gigawatts of total capacity refers to the amount of electrical power these data centers will consume when fully operational—enough to power roughly 4.4 million American homes. It turns out that telling users their every idea is brilliant requires a lot of energy.

Stargate moves forward despite early skepticism

When OpenAI announced Stargate in January, critics questioned whether the company could deliver on its ambitious $500 billion funding promise. Trump ally and frequent Altman foe Elon Musk wrote on X that "They don't actually have the money," claiming that "SoftBank has well under $10B secured."

Tech writer and frequent OpenAI critic Ed Zitron raised concerns about OpenAI's financial position, noting the company's $5 billion in losses in 2024. "This company loses $5bn+ a year! So what, they raise $19bn for Stargate, then what, another $10bn just to be able to survive?" Zitron wrote on Bluesky at the time.

Six months later, OpenAI's Abilene data center has moved from construction to partial operation. Oracle began delivering Nvidia GB200 racks to the facility last month, and OpenAI reports it has started running early training and inference workloads to support what it calls "next-generation frontier research."

Despite the White House announcement with President Trump in January, the Stargate concept dates back to March 2024, when Microsoft and OpenAI jointly planned a $100 billion supercomputer as part of a five-phase plan. Over time, the plan evolved into its current form as a partnership with Oracle, SoftBank, and CoreWeave.

"Stargate is an ambitious undertaking designed to meet the historic opportunity in front of us," writes OpenAI in the press release announcing the latest deal. "That opportunity is now coming to life through strong support from partners, governments, and investors worldwide—including important leadership from the White House, which has recognized the critical role AI infrastructure will play in driving innovation, economic growth, and national competitiveness."