Stargate: OpenAI Eyeing More Data Centers in Texas, Other StatesStargate: OpenAI Eyeing More Data Centers in Texas, Other States

(Bloomberg) – The Stargate joint venture from OpenAI, SoftBank Group Corp., and Oracle Corp. is close to selecting additional sites for data center campuses in Texas and eyeing more projects in over a dozen other states, as the companies work to fulfill an ambitious plan to invest hundreds of billions in AI infrastructure.

OpenAI is far along in the process of picking several locations in Texas for massive data center projects to support artificial intelligence services, according to a company spokesperson. That’s in addition to breaking ground on its first site in the small Texas city of Abilene. Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s vice president of global affairs, said the state will serve as “the flagship” for the new infrastructure venture. 

At the same time, the ChatGPT maker is evaluating other potential sites in 15 more states, with staff from OpenAI and SoftBank visiting locations in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Oregon this week. The data center projects are each expected to have around 1 GW of capacity, the spokesperson said, which is roughly the output of a nuclear reactor. However, those details have not yet been finalized. 

President Donald Trump unveiled the joint venture, called Stargate, at an event last month. The project plans to invest $100 billion immediately and $500 billion over the next four years in physical infrastructure that can be used by OpenAI to develop more advanced AI models. 

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Stargate’s backers have framed the effort as a powerful engine for job growth and also vital to maintaining US dominance in AI – a key concern as Chinese developers like DeepSeek show signs of catching up. Beyond the initial announcement and Abilene site plans, there have been limited details on financing and specific projects in the works. 

Lehane said the company has been “bombarded” with “enormous” interest from elected officials across the country who want their states to be part of Stargate. Last week, OpenAI began publicly soliciting proposals on behalf of Stargate to accelerate its site selection process. 

Some of the key factors OpenAI is weighing include a site’s proximity to energy sources and water, its future power expansion potential and the ease of logistics for major construction efforts, according to OpenAI’s request for proposals. The company is also soliciting bids from architecture and engineering firms to design the AI data centers. 

More details on selections will be announced in the spring, a company spokesperson said. Keith Heyde, who joined OpenAI in November to oversee infrastructure strategy and development, is leading the site selection process and infrastructure execution for Stargate. 

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OpenAI has previously said these projects will create hundreds of thousands of construction jobs, combined. Lehane said the new data centers will also help states establish “AI hubs” that support new opportunities for startups, developers and others. 

“You become an AI hub, and that starts to bring in developers, that starts to bring in other companies, that starts to bring in folks who want to be part of that broader ecosystem,” Lehane said. One possibility being discussed, he said, is that Stargate may provide some dedicated computing capacity to states where data centers are fast-tracked.

But details about job creation potential remain unclear. Typically, data centers require fewer long-term employment opportunities than traditional tech campuses. Stargate’s first site in Abilene must create at least 57 full-time positions earning an average wage of $57,600 annually, Bloomberg previously reported, though the final tally could be higher.