SoftBank, Oracle, OpenAI announce five Stargate data centre locations

SoftBank Group Corp, Oracle Corp, and OpenAI Inc, on Wednesday, announced the location of five new US artificial intelligence data centres under the Stargate project, bringing the programme closer to its investment and capacity goals ahead of schedule.

SoftBank, a Tokyo-based investment company, said the new sites will provide the Stargate AI project with 7 gigawatts of planned capacity and more than USD400 billion in investment over the next three years.

"This puts us on a clear path to securing the full USD500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment we announced in January by the end of 2025, ahead of schedule," SoftBank commented.

This latest announcement will build upon a July agreement between San Francisco, California-based ChatGPT developer OpenAI and Oracle, an Austin, Texas-based enterprise software company. In July, the two companies agreed to develop 4.5 gigawatts of capacity for Stargate, committing USD300 billion over the next five years.

Three of the newly announced sites relating to the OpenAI-Oracle agreement from July will be situated in Shackelford County in Texas, Dona Ana County in New Mexico, as well as a site in the US Midwest. These three locations, combined with an additional potential expansion of 600 megawatts near the flagship Stargate site in Abilene, Texas, will deliver more than 5.5 gigawatts of capacity.

Additionally, two sites being developed through a partnership between SoftBank and OpenAI can scale to 1.5 gigawatts over the next 18 months. One site is located in Lordstown, Ohio, where SoftBank has already broken ground on an advanced data centre design due to be operational next year. Meanwhile, another is located in Milam County, Texas.

"The five new sites were chosen through a rigorous nationwide process launched in January. OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank reviewed over 300 proposals from more than 30 states. Today’s announcement marks the first set of selections, with additional US sites to come as we complete and surpass our initial commitment to invest USD500 billion in US AI infrastructure," SoftBank explained.

The three companies first announced the Stargate initiative, which aims to promote AI infrastructure in the US, at a January event in the White House alongside President Donald Trump.