Stargate Project Unveils Five New Data Centers, Powering the Future of Digital Infrastructure

OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced plans to build five new AI data centers across the United States as part of the ambitious Stargate project. The expansion brings the initiative closer to its $500 billion goal to build America's AI infrastructure, with over $400 billion in investments planned over the next three years.

President Donald Trump launched Stargate in January alongside major tech CEOs as a private sector initiative to spend up to $500 billion on AI infrastructure. The project reflects how AI has become a top priority for both the administration and tech companies pouring billions into the computing power needed to run these systems.

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, will open three new sites with Oracle in Shackelford County, Texas; Dona Ana County, New Mexico; and an undisclosed Midwest location. Two additional data centers will be built in Lordstown, Ohio, and Milam County, Texas, through a partnership between OpenAI and Japan's SoftBank.

These new locations, combined with an expansion of the existing Oracle-OpenAI site in Abilene, Texas, and ongoing projects with CoreWeave, will bring Stargate's total data center capacity to nearly 7 gigawatts. The original plan aimed for 10 gigawatts of total capacity.

"AI can only fulfill its promise if we build the compute to power it," said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The expansion is expected to create 25,000 on-site jobs across the various locations.

The announcement comes right after Nvidia said Monday it would invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and supply chips for the data centers. Sources familiar with the matter say OpenAI and its partners plan to use debt financing to lease chips for the Stargate project.

OpenAI and its backer Microsoft are among the tech giants spending billions on data centers to power generative AI services like ChatGPT and Copilot. But there are bigger stakes here than just commercial applications. AI's role in sensitive sectors like defense, combined with China's push to keep pace in the technology race, has made this emerging tech a top priority for the Trump administration.

The massive infrastructure buildout shows how companies are betting that AI will need enormous computing resources to reach its full potential. For investors and the broader tech sector, these investments signal confidence that AI applications will generate enough revenue to justify the massive upfront costs.