Abilene, Texas – Openai and Oracle It is a big bet on the future of American AI, bringing the flagship site for the $500 billion Stargate program online. This is the driving force behind the broad infrastructure to ensure the calculations needed to drive the future of artificial intelligence.
Located in Abilene, Texas, about 180 miles west of Dallas, the debut site is full of Oracle Cloud infrastructure and racks of Nvidia chips.
The data centers where Oracle is leased are one of the most notable physical landmarks emerging from an unprecedented boom in which there is a demand for powering AI in infrastructure. HSBC estimates this week’s estimates show that over $2 trillion in AI infrastructure is planned around the world.
Openai is leading the way.
In addition to the $500 billion Stargate project, the startup announced its stock investment agreement on Monday nvidia This adds an estimated $500 billion worth of data centers over the next few years. Since 2019, Microsoft It has invested billions of dollars in Openai and offers plenty of access to Azure credits. Additionally, OpenAI has contracted with small cloud companies to help operate additional computing power and infrastructure.
One building on the Abilene Site is in operation, while another is nearly complete. The campus could eventually expand beyond its gigawatt capacity, Open Finance chief Sarah Frier told CNBC. It’s enough power to run around 750,000 US homes.
Data center construction planning is very important nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was personally involved in last-minute negotiations with Openai CEO Sam Altman over the weekend and took part in the action, CNBC reported Tuesday.
“People are beginning to recognize only the pure scale they need,” Frier said. “We’re here in Abilene, Texas, and this will see all over the US and beyond.”
Friar said the scale of the project construction was required to provide the amount of computation needed to operate Openai’s models.
“What we’re looking at today is a massive calculation crunch,” she said. “There’s not enough calculations to do everything that AI can do.”
A bold bet on AI infrastructure
Openai, Oracle, and SoftbankFive additional Stargate sites in Texas, New Mexico and Ohio, along with unnamed Midwest sites were added Tuesday as they support funding the project. This will result in the initiative scale of approximately 7 gigawatts and more than $400 billion in investment over the next three years. This includes the existing $300 billion agreement between Openai and Oracle.
Companies like Oracle help fund data center construction, but Friar said Openai will ultimately pay computing power as operating expenses. Nvidia is putting up equity to jumpstart the project, but Friar said they will receive payments for all the graphics processing units (GPUs) that chip makers provide when those chips are deployed.
Friar said Openai will generate $13 billion in revenue this year, and the company will use its own cash flow and debt financing to help pay for the construction.
The Stargate name refers to all future Openai infrastructure projects, CNBC reported this week. With coreweave Other partners also say they are moving ahead of schedule to meet their full 10 Gigawatt commitment by the end of 2025.
Friar told CNBC that today’s ground shovels lay the foundation for computing that won’t go online until 2026, starting with Nvidia’s next-generation Vera Rubin Chips.
The data center building is under construction on September 23, 2025 during a tour of the Openie Data Center in Abilene, Texas, USA.
Shelby Tauber | Reuters
“No one in human history has been built at such a fast pace,” Frier said, adding that the entire ecosystem must work together to meet the demand.
Critics have questioned the circular funding behind Stargate. Openai has committed hundreds of billions of dollars to the project, and suppliers like Nvidia are investing directly in the same buildout.
History shows that the technology boom requires bold infrastructure bets. Friar said.
“When the internet started, people kept feeling like, ‘Oh, we’re overbuilding, too much,'” Frier said. “Look at where today, okay?”
The project also carries political weight. Openai and Oracle first announced Stargate at the White House in January along with President Donald Trump. The monks are called Trump, president of this AI era,” pointing to the role of Washington as a financial engine and national security priorities. Trump was briefed on Nvidia’s investment in Open I during a visit to the UK earlier this month.
Oracle says the project will employ more than 6,000 construction workers every day and provide nearly 1,700 long-term jobs.
In a paper published on Openai’s infrastructure plans on Tuesday, the company wrote that data center build-outs will help the US rebuild the US’s power grid with new technology and make its global influence.
-CNBC’s Kif Leswing contributed to this story.
Watch: Openai CFO: You need partners such as Oracle and Microsoft to meet demand
