OpenAI has been scouting for sites across the U.S. recently to build Stargate data centers, expanding from a flagship Texas location. It is now looking at 16 states as part of the Stargate Project, backed by President Donald Trump.
OpenAI, best known for its AI model ChatGPT, has put out a request for proposals for land, electricity, engineers, and architects and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the past week.
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Towards the end of January, Trump had mentioned in a White House briefing that tech giants OpenAI, Softbank, and Oracle were joining hands to establish the Stargate Project. He also announced that up to $500 billion is being invested in private sector to build AI infrastructure such as data centers in the United States.
Trump called the project a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months.
Not everyone involved in the Trump administration is on the same page about it—Elon Musk, a close Trump advisor, has questioned the value of OpenAI’s investments, saying “They don’t actually have the money.”
“SoftBank has well under $10B [billion] secured. I have that on good authority,” Musk added.
OpenAI’s request for proposals calls for sites with “proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water.”
AI uses vast amounts of energy, which has raised concerns, since it is mostly produced by burning fossil fuels, exacerbating climate change. Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling. Some tech giants have started financing nuclear power to plug into their data centers.
While OpenAI’s proposal doesn’t mention energy sources, it does say that electricity providers should have a plan to manage carbon emissions and water usage. “There’s some sites we’re looking at where we want to help be part of the process that brings new power to that site, either from new gas deployment or other means,” said Keith Heyde, who directs OpenAI’s infrastructure strategy.
The first data center is under construction in Texas, and is being developed by San Francisco-based startup Crusoe. “We try to build data centers in locations where we can access low-cost, clean and abundant energy resources,” Lochmiller said. “West Texas really fits that mold where it’s one of the most consistently windy and sunny places in the United States.”
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Lochmiller also said he expected the Trump administration to be pragmatic about the use of wind energy for these data centers despite Trump’s opposition to wind farms.
The other states where OpenAI is actively looking include Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.