Why does OpenAI need six giant data centers?

On Tuesday, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced plans for five new US AI data center sites for Stargate, their joint AI infrastructure project, bringing the platform to nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity and over $400 billion in investment over the next three years.

The massive buildout aims to handle ChatGPT's 700 million weekly users and train future AI models, although critics question whether the investment structure can sustain itself. The companies said the expansion puts them on track to secure the full $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment they announced in January by the end of 2025.

The five new sites will include three locations developed through an OpenAI and Oracle partnership: Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and an unspecified Midwest location. These sites, along with a 600-megawatt expansion near the flagship Stargate site in Abilene, Texas, can deliver over 5.5 gigawatts of capacity, which means the computers on site will be able to draw up to 5.5 billion watts of electricity when running at full load. The companies expect the sites to create over 25,000 onsite jobs.

Two of the sites will be developed through a partnership between SoftBank and OpenAI. One site in Lordstown, Ohio, where SoftBank has broken ground, is on track to be operational next year. The second site in Milam County, Texas, will be developed with SB Energy, a SoftBank Group company. These two sites may scale to 1.5 gigawatts over the next 18 months.

The new sites will join the flagship Stargate campus in Abilene, Texas. Oracle began delivering Nvidia hardware to that site in June, and OpenAI has already begun training (building new models) and inference (running ChatGPT) using the data center.

Here's a rundown of those announced Stargate sites so far:

• Abilene, Texas: Flagship campus, already operational with Nvidia GB200 racks, plus planned 600-megawatt expansion
• Shackelford County, Texas: New Oracle-developed site
• Doña Ana County, New Mexico: New Oracle-developed site
• Midwest location (undisclosed): New Oracle-developed site
• Lordstown, Ohio: New SoftBank-developed site, operational next year
• Milam County, Texas: New SoftBank/SB Energy site