OpenAI Launches Nationwide Search for Stargate Project Data Center Sites

OpenAI launches cross-country search to build data center sites for the Stargate project

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals for land, electricity, engineers and architects and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin this week. Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month. The partnership said it is investing $100 billion -- and eventually up to $500 billion -- to build large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months. Elon Musk, a Trump adviser and fierce rival of OpenAI who is in a legal fight with the company and its CEO Sam Altman, has publicly questioned the value of Stargate's investments. After Trump's announcement, a number of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming additional data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, told reporters Thursday. The company's request for proposals calls for sites with "proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water." AI uses vast amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which causes climate change. Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. Some tech giants have started financing nuclear power to plug into their data centers. OpenAI's proposal makes no mention of whether it intends to prioritize renewable energy sources such as wind or solar to power the data centers. But it says electricity providers should have a plan to manage carbon emissions and water usage. "There's some sites we're looking at where we want to help be part of the process that brings new power to that site, either from new gas deployment or other means," said Keith Heyde, who directs OpenAI's infrastructure strategy. The first Texas project is in a region Abilene Mayor Weldon Hurt has described to The Associated Press as rich in multiple energy sources, including wind, solar and gas. Also describing it that way is the company that began building the AI data center campus there in June -- the same two "big, beautiful buildings" that Altman showed off in a recent drone video posted on social media. Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller said that wind power is central to the project his company is building, though it will also have a gas-fired generator for backup power. "We try to build data centers in locations where we can access low-cost, clean and abundant energy resources," Lochmiller said. "West Texas really fits that mold where it's one of the most consistently windy and sunny places in the United States." Lochmiller said he expects the Trump administration, despite the president's opposition to wind farms, to be pragmatic in supporting wind-powered data centers when it is "actually the cheapest way to access energy." Data centers consumed about 4.4% of all U.S. electricity in 2023 and that's expected to increase to 6.7% to 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The other states where OpenAI is actively looking include Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia. Heyde said the company only plans to build "somewhere between five to 10" campuses in total, depending on how large each one is. OpenAI previously relied on business partner Microsoft for its computing needs. But the two companies recently amended their partnership to enable OpenAI to pursue data center development on its own. -- - Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this report. -- - The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives.

OpenAI looks across US for sites to build its Trump-backed Stargate AI data centers

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals for land, electricity, engineers and architects and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week. Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month. The partnership said it is investing $100 billion -- and eventually up to $500 billion -- to build large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months. Elon Musk, a Trump adviser and fierce rival of OpenAI who's in a legal fight with the company and its CEO Sam Altman, has publicly questioned the value of Stargate's investments. After Trump's announcement, a number of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming additional data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, told reporters Thursday. The company's request for proposals calls for sites with "proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water." AI uses vast amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which causes climate change. Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. OpenAI's proposal makes no mention of whether it intends to prioritize renewable energy sources such as wind or solar to power the data centers, but it says electricity providers should have a plan to manage carbon emissions and water usage. The first Texas project is in a region Abilene's mayor has described to The Associated Press as rich in multiple energy sources, including wind, solar and gas. "There's some sites we're looking at where we want to help be part of the process that brings new power to that site, either from new gas deployment or other means," said Keith Heyde, who directs OpenAI's infrastructure strategy. The other states where OpenAI is actively looking include Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. Heyde said the company only plans to build "somewhere between five to 10" campuses in total, depending on how large each one is. -- - The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives.

OpenAI Looks Across US for Sites to Build Its Trump-Backed Stargate AI Data Centers

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week. Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month. The partnership said it is investing $100 billion -- and eventually up to $500 billion -- to build large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months. Elon Musk, a Trump adviser and fierce rival of OpenAI who's in a legal fight with the company and its CEO Sam Altman, has publicly questioned the value of Stargate's investments. After Trump's announcement, a number of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming additional data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, told reporters Thursday. The company's request for proposals calls for sites with "proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water." AI uses vast amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which causes climate change. Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. -- - The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

OpenAI looks across US for sites to build its Trump-backed Stargate AI data centers

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week. Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month. The partnership said it is investing $100 billion -- and eventually up to $500 billion -- to build large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months. Elon Musk, a Trump adviser and fierce rival of OpenAI who's in a legal fight with the company and its CEO Sam Altman, has publicly questioned the value of Stargate's investments. After Trump's announcement, a number of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming additional data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, told reporters Thursday. The company's request for proposals calls for sites with "proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water." AI uses vast amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which causes climate change. Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. -- - The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives.

OpenAI looks across US for sites to build its Trump-backed Stargate AI data centers

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week. Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month. The partnership said it is investing $100 billion -- and eventually up to $500 billion -- to build large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months. Elon Musk, a Trump adviser and fierce rival of OpenAI who's in a legal fight with the company and its CEO Sam Altman, has publicly questioned the value of Stargate's investments. After Trump's announcement, a number of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming additional data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, told reporters Thursday. The company's request for proposals calls for sites with "proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water." AI uses vast amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which causes climate change. Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. -- - The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP's text archives.

OpenAI looks across US for sites to build its Donald Trump-backed Stargate AI data centres

OpenAI is scouring the US for sites to build a network of huge data centres to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals for land, electricity, engineers and architects and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week. Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month. The partnership said it is investing $100 billion - and eventually up to $500 billion - to build large-scale data centres and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months. Elon Musk, a Trump adviser and fierce rival of OpenAI who is in a legal fight with the company and its CEO Sam Altman, has publicly questioned the value of Stargate's investments. After Trump's announcement, a number of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming additional data centres, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, told reporters Thursday. The company's request for proposals calls for sites with "proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water." AI uses vast amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which causes climate change. Data centres also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. Some tech giants have started financing nuclear power to plug into their data centres. OpenAI's proposal makes no mention of whether it intends to prioritize renewable energy sources such as wind or solar to power the data centres. But it says electricity providers should have a plan to manage carbon emissions and water usage. "There's some sites we're looking at where we want to help be part of the process that brings new power to that site, either from new gas deployment or other means," said Keith Heyde, who directs OpenAI's infrastructure strategy. The first Texas project is in a region Abilene Mayor Weldon Hurt has described to The Associated Press as rich in multiple energy sources, including wind, solar and gas. Also describing it that way is the company that began building the AI data centre campus there in June - the same two "big, beautiful buildings" that Altman showed off in a recent drone video posted on social media. Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller said that wind power is central to the project his company is building, though it will also have a gas-fired generator for backup power. "We try to build data centres in locations where we can access low-cost, clean and abundant energy resources," Lochmiller said. "West Texas really fits that mold where it's one of the most consistently windy and sunny places in the United States." Lochmiller said he expects the Trump administration, despite the president's opposition to wind farms, to be pragmatic in supporting wind-powered data centres when it is "actually the cheapest way to access energy." Data centres consumed about 4.4% of all U.S. electricity in 2023 and that's expected to increase to 6.7% to 12% of total U.S. electricity by 2028, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The other states where OpenAI is actively looking include Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. Heyde said the company only plans to build "somewhere between five to 10" campuses in total, depending on how large each one is. OpenAI previously relied on business partner Microsoft for its computing needs. But the two companies recently amended their partnership to enable OpenAI to pursue data centre development on its own.

OpenAI Is Looking Across U.S. for Sites to Build Its Trump-Backed Stargate AI Data Centers

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump. The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals for land, electricity, engineers and architects and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week. Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month. The partnership said it is investing $100 billion -- and eventually up to $500 billion -- to build large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months.

OpenAI considering 16 states for data center campuses as part of Trump's Stargate project

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks next to SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son after U.S. President Donald Trump delivered remarks on AI infrastructure at the Roosevelt Room in the White House in Washington on Jan. 21, 2025. OpenAI said on Thursday that the company is considering building data center campuses in 16 states that have indicated "real interest" in the project, which is linked to President Donald Trump's Stargate plans. On a call with reporters, OpenAI executives said it sent out a request for proposals (RFP) to states less than a week ago. "A project of this size represents an opportunity to both re-industrialize parts of the country, but also to help revitalize where the American Dream is going to go in this intelligence age," Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global policy, said on the call. Shortly after his inauguration last month, President Trump introduced Stargate, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to bolster U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure. Key initial technology partners will include Microsoft, Nvidia and Oracle, as well as semiconductor company Arm. They said they would invest $100 billion to start and up to $500 billion over the next four years. The 16 states OpenAI is currently considering are Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia. Construction on the data centers in Abilene, Texas, is currently underway. In the coming months, OpenAI will begin announcing additional construction sites "on a rolling basis," according to the presentation. Each campus is designed to support about one gigawatt of power or more. OpenAI is aiming to build five to 10 data center campuses total, although executives said that number could rise or fall depending on how much power each campus offers. The company also said it expects each data center campus to generate thousands of jobs. That includes construction and operational roles. But Stargate's first data center in Abilene could lead to the creation of just 57 jobs, according to recent reports. When OpenAI executives were asked how much electricity and water the data centers are expected to consume and how many workers they will employ, Keith Heyde, director of infrastructure strategy and deployment, said there were some sites where the company may look to partner with a utility and help develop other power-generation methods. Heyde also said the company is looking into a "light water-footprint design." Lehane declined to offer specifics about water usage. Large-scale data centers have sparked controversy in recent years for their staggering environmental costs. The facilities consume a much as 50 times more energy per square foot than an average commercial office building, according to Energy.gov, and they're responsible for approximately 2% of total U.S. electricity use. In 2022, Google said that the average Google data center the prior year consumed approximately 450,000 gallons of water per day for server cooling. At least one data center it built could use between one and four million gallons of water per day, Time reported. But the pressure to advance AI in the U.S. is picking up due to the speedy pace of development in China. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup lab, saw its app soar to the top of Apple's App Store rankings after its debut and roiled U.S. markets early last week on reports that its powerful model was trained at a fraction of the cost of U.S. competitors. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has praised DeepSeek's model publicly, calling it "clearly a great model" at an event last week. "This is a reminder of the level of competition and the need for democratic Al to win," Altman said at the event, adding that it points to the "level of interest in reasoning, the level of interest in open source." Lehane said it's all adding urgency to efforts in the U.S. "Right now, there's really only two countries in the world that can build this AI at scale," Lehane said on Thursday. "One is the CCP-led China, and the other is the United States, and so that's sort of the context that we're operating in. Up until relatively recently, there was a real sense that the U.S. had a material lead on the CCP." He added that reports surrounding DeepSeek made "really clear that this is a very real competition, and the stakes could not be bigger. Whoever ends up prevailing in this competition is going to really shape what the world looks like going forward."

OpenAI considering 16 states for data center campuses as part of Trump's Stargate project

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at the Microsoft Build conference on May 21, 2024. Jason Redmond / AFP - Getty Images file OpenAI said on Thursday that the company is considering building data center campuses in 16 states that have indicated "real interest" in the project, which is linked to President Donald Trump's Stargate plans. On a call with reporters, OpenAI executives said it sent out a request for proposals (RFP) to states less than a week ago. "A project of this size represents an opportunity to both re-industrialize parts of the country, but also to help revitalize where the American Dream is going to go in this intelligence age," Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of global policy, said on the call. Shortly after his inauguration last month, President Trump introduced Stargate, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to bolster U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure. Key initial technology partners will include Microsoft, Nvidia and Oracle, as well as semiconductor company Arm. They said they would invest $100 billion to start and up to $500 billion over the next four years. The 16 states OpenAI is currently considering are Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and West Virginia. Construction on the data centers in Abilene, Texas, is currently underway. In the coming months, OpenAI will begin announcing additional construction sites "on a rolling basis," according to the presentation. Each campus is designed to support about one gigawatt of power or more. OpenAI is aiming to build five to 10 data center campuses total, although executives said that number could rise or fall depending on how much power each campus offers. The company also said it expects each data center campus to generate thousands of jobs. That includes construction and operational roles. But Stargate's first data center in Abilene could lead to the creation of just 57 jobs, according to recent reports. When OpenAI executives were asked how much electricity and water the data centers are expected to consume and how many workers they will employ, Keith Heyde, director of infrastructure strategy and deployment, said there were some sites where the company may look to partner with a utility and help develop other power-generation methods. Heyde also said the company is looking into a "light water-footprint design." Lehane declined to offer specifics about water usage. Large-scale data centers have sparked controversy in recent years for their staggering environmental costs. The facilities consume a much as 50 times more energy per square foot than an average commercial office building, according to Energy.gov, and they're responsible for approximately 2% of total U.S. electricity use. In 2022, Google said that the average Google data center the prior year consumed approximately 450,000 gallons of water per day for server cooling. At least one data center it built could use between one and four million gallons of water per day, Time reported. But the pressure to advance AI in the U.S. is picking up due to the speedy pace of development in China. DeepSeek, a Chinese AI startup lab, saw its app soar to the top of Apple's App Store rankings after its debut and roiled U.S. markets early last week on reports that its powerful model was trained at a fraction of the cost of U.S. competitors. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has praised DeepSeek's model publicly, calling it "clearly a great model" at an event last week. "This is a reminder of the level of competition and the need for democratic Al to win," Altman said at the event, adding that it points to the "level of interest in reasoning, the level of interest in open source." Lehane said it's all adding urgency to efforts in the U.S. "Right now, there's really only two countries in the world that can build this AI at scale," Lehane said on Thursday. "One is the CCP-led China, and the other is the United States, and so that's sort of the context that we're operating in. Up until relatively recently, there was a real sense that the U.S. had a material lead on the CCP." He added that reports surrounding DeepSeek made "really clear that this is a very real competition, and the stakes could not be bigger. Whoever ends up prevailing in this competition is going to really shape what the world looks like going forward."

OpenAI is picking new sites for Stargate AI mega-centers: Is your state on the list?

OpenAI is exploring Oregon and 15 other states for potential sites to develop large-scale data centers aimed at enhancing its artificial intelligence capabilities, as part of the Stargate project launched by President Donald Trump. The primary data center will be located in Texas, with further facilities planned nationally. OpenAI has begun site visits in Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin after issuing a request for proposals. Business Oregon, the state's economic development agency, reported that it has not yet submitted a proposal for the Stargate project. Spokesperson Nathan Buehler mentioned, "Our office first received a call from a consultant connected to it on Tuesday, and we subsequently are setting up another with them and our business development staff to learn more." Oregon already hosts a significant data center industry, with major players like Amazon, Apple, Google, LinkedIn, Meta, Oracle, and Elon Musk's social media platform X operating within its borders. The Stargate initiative, a joint venture involving OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, plans to invest an initial $100 billion, with a potential total investment of $500 billion, to build data centers and the necessary energy generation infrastructure to support AI development. Trump characterized the Stargate project as a "resounding declaration of confidence in America's potential" during its announcement. He emphasized its role in revitalizing U.S. leadership in AI as it faces competition from advances in countries like China. In the wake of Trump's announcement, various states have expressed interest in housing additional data centers. OpenAI's vice president of global affairs, Chris Lehane, pointed out that the company's request for proposals emphasizes the need for sites "with proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water." OpenAI anticipates that the construction of five to ten data center campuses will lead to substantial job creation, though reports indicate that the first facility in Abilene, Texas, may only generate about 57 jobs. Each campus is designed to support approximately one gigawatt of power. This $6 AI model called s1 just challenged OpenAI's o1 Large-scale data centers have raised environmental concerns, consuming significantly more energy per square foot than standard commercial buildings. Data centers accounted for around 2% of total U.S. electricity usage, and previous reports highlighted that Google's data centers consumed vast amounts of water for cooling purposes, estimating an average of 450,000 gallons per day in 2022. The swift advancement of AI technologies in China adds urgency to OpenAI's efforts. The Chinese startup DeepSeek has recently gained attention, with its competitively trained model causing disruption in U.S. markets. Lehane noted that this competitive landscape showcases the need for the U.S. to maintain its position in AI development, stating, "Right now, there's really only two countries in the world that can build this AI at scale." OpenAI's site selection process for the Stargate project is being led by Keith Heyde, the director of infrastructure strategy and deployment. The company expects to reveal additional construction sites in the coming months. In its outreach, OpenAI aims to foster the establishment of "AI hubs" in participating states, facilitating opportunities for startups and developers. While the Abilene site aims to create at least 57 jobs, the overall potential for job creation across the project remains uncertain.

OpenAI picks Texas for 'flagship' data center in Stargate project

ChatGPT maker OpenAI said on Thursday that Texas will be the "flagship" data center site in the Stargate project it is building with SoftBank. Around 16 states have indicated interest in building data centers for Stargate, an OpenAI executive said on a conference call. Stargate plans to invest up to $500 billion to help the United States stay ahead of China and other competitors in the global AI race. In January, President Donald Trump announced the private sector investment initiative to fund AI infrastructure, aiming to outpace rival nations in this critical business technology.

OpenAI Eyeing More Data Centers in Texas, Other States For Stargate

A 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.