Forward-looking: Oracle has committed to spending approximately $40 billion on Nvidia’s latest high-performance chips to power a massive new data center in Abilene, Texas. The facility will require up to 1.2 gigawatts of power once fully operational and serves as the flagship site of the Stargate project – a $500 billion initiative led by OpenAI and SoftBank to reshape the landscape of AI computing in the United States and beyond.

The facility will cover eight buildings across 875 acres. Crusoe Energy Systems and Blue Owl Capital raised $15 billion in debt and equity to finance the buildout. JPMorgan played a key role by providing $9.6 billion in loans, including a recently announced $7.1 billion tranche.

When crews complete construction, the Texas facility will be one of the world’s largest data centers when it opens in mid-2026. OpenAI has entered into a 15-year lease for the entire campus, which insiders told the Financial Times would run on roughly 400,000 Nvidia GB200 superchips.

The data center will serve as a critical platform for OpenAI’s AI model training and deployment, marking a crucial step in diversifying its computing resources and reducing reliance on Microsoft, its primary infrastructure provider until now.

The exclusivity agreement between OpenAI and Microsoft concluded earlier this year, as OpenAI’s demand for computing power surpassed Microsoft’s available capacity. While negotiations continue regarding the duration of Microsoft’s licensing rights to OpenAI’s models, this development marks a significant shift toward diversified cloud partnerships for the AI leader.

While Stargate has yet to directly invest capital in any data center beyond the Texas site, its global expansion plans are already taking shape, with additional deployments being considered in Europe and Asia. The scale and speed of these investments underscore the intensifying competition among technology companies and nations to build the backbone for the next generation of artificial intelligence.

The Stargate project is ambitious in scale and vision. Backed by OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi’s MGX, the group plans to invest up to $500 billion over four years to build a national network of AI supercomputing centers. The first $100 billion will fund up to 20 sites, starting with the Texas facility.

Sources say that SoftBank and OpenAI will each hold a 40 percent stake in the venture, making them the primary equity holders. Oracle and MGX, a state-owned investment firm from the United Arab Emirates, have committed $7 billion each. SoftBank will oversee finances, while OpenAI leads operations.

OpenAI and its partners plan to expand Stargate beyond the US, starting with a 10-square-mile AI campus developed alongside Emirati tech firm G42 in Abu Dhabi.

The site could consume up to 5GW of power – more than four times the Texas center – and eventually house over two million of Nvidia’s most advanced chips. The UAE project, announced during President Donald Trump’s recent Gulf visit, forms part of OpenAI’s “OpenAI for Countries” initiative to help governments build sovereign AI infrastructure.

Masthead credit: Financial Times