OpenAI Unveils Stargate AI Facility in Texas, Announces Five-State Expansion Blitz
Silicon Valley's AI arms race just hit hyperdrive—OpenAI drops the curtain on its Stargate computing facility in Texas while mapping out five additional state deployments.
The Infrastructure Gambit
Texas becomes ground zero for what insiders call the most advanced AI research hub ever conceived. The Stargate facility represents not just another data center but a full-stack AI ecosystem designed to push computational boundaries.
Five-State Domino Effect
Beyond the Lone Star flagship, OpenAI confirmed identical facilities will break ground across five undisclosed states within 24 months. Each location will specialize in different AI verticals—from natural language processing to robotic autonomy.
The Compute Arms Race
This expansion signals OpenAI's end-run around cloud dependency. By controlling its own infrastructure, the company bypasses third-party limitations while achieving unprecedented processing scale. The move mirrors Big Tech's cloud land grabs—just with more specialized hardware.
Wall Street's AI FOMO
Meanwhile, traditional finance scrambles to justify AI investments that haven't moved their stock prices. Because nothing says 'innovation' like spending billions to automate spreadsheet functions.
Residents have mixed reactions to the OpenAI project
Not all residents are pleased because of the facility’s water and power requirements. The city’s water reservoirs were about half-full this week. People must follow a twice-weekly outdoor watering schedule, alternating days based on whether their house numbers are odd or even.
The cooling system needs one million gallons from the city water supplies for its initial setup.
Shaolei Ren, a University of California, Riverside professor who studies environmental effects of artificial intelligence, said the closed-loop cooling system shows developers care about local water supplies. But he noted these systems need more electricity, which means more indirect water use through power generation.
Most residents first heard about Stargate when Trump announced it after returning to office in January. Originally planned for cryptocurrency mining, developers changed and expanded their plans for the artificial intelligence boom that ChatGPT started.
The partnership said it was investing $100 billion initially, possibly reaching $500 billion, to build large data centers and power systems for AI development. OpenAI recently signed a deal to buy $300 billion worth of computing power from Oracle, a major gamble for the San Francisco company that began as a nonprofit.
OpenAI and Oracle brought reporters and politicians, including Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, to tour the site Tuesday for the first time.
Cruz called Texas “ground zero for AI” because anyone building data centers wants “abundant, low-cost energy.”
Of the five other Stargate projects announced Tuesday, Oracle will work with OpenAI on one in New Mexico’s Doña Ana County and another in Shackelford County, Texas. The company also plans one in the Midwest.
Softbank has started construction on two more in Lordstown, Ohio, and Milam County, Texas.
These projects help OpenAI reduce its dependence on Microsoft, which was previously its only computing partner. Altman told reporters his company has been “severely limited for the value we can offer to people.”
“ChatGPT is slow. It’s not as smart as we’d like to be. Many users can’t use it as much as they WOULD like,” Altman said. “We have many other ideas and products we want to build.”
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