Three of the new sites will be delivered in collaboration with Oracle, situated in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and an unspecified Midwest location. A fourth and fifth site will be developed via OpenAI’s partnership with SoftBank, in Lordstown, Ohio, and Milam County, Texas. These two are expected to scale to 1.5 gigawatts of compute infrastructure within roughly 18 months.
Already under construction is the flagship Stargate facility at Abilene, Texas, developed with Oracle. The Abilene campus, with eight H-shaped buildings and around 60,000 Nvidia GB200 chips, is set to draw about 900 megawatts of power, tapping both gas-fired generation and regional wind and solar sources. The site employs closed-loop water cooling to reduce water consumption in its drought-prone locale.
The expansion is forecast to create more than 25,000 onsite jobs, with many more indirectly supported in construction, supply chains, and operations. Oracle’s share of the announced sites alone delivers over 5.5 gigawatts of capacity, including potential additional capacity near Abilene.
Sam Altman, Chief Executive of OpenAI, emphasised that computing capacity is the linchpin for scaling generative AI tools and fulfilling broader ambitions. Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, who chairs the Stargate venture, noted that the partnerships are intended to improve scalability, cost efficiency, and speed of deployment.
Challenges around energy supply, environmental impact, and logistical coordination are under scrutiny. The scale of electricity required by Abilene has raised concerns about grid capacity and long-term sustainability. Local communities have also voiced worries about construction noise, lighting, and the disruption of habitats.
Oracle’s role is expanding: the company is not only a builder for three new sites but is also working under a cloud infrastructure deal with OpenAI amounting to over $300 billion over five years, which includes commitments for power capacity and operational responsibilities.
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