OpenAI’s $400 Billion Plan To Build 5 ‘Stargate Data Centers’ In The U.S. : US Pioneer Global VC DIFCHQ SFO NYC Singapore – Riyadh Swiss Our Mind

Takes Direct Aim At Microsoft And Meta In Battle For AI Supremacy

OpenAI is taking dead aim at Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Meta (NASDAQ: META)in the battle for AI supremacy by investing $400 billion to build five giant data centers across the U.S., according to Fortune.

The “Stargate” AI infrastructure project, which includes strategic partnerships with Oracle (NYSE: ORCL) and Japan-based SoftBank, plans to establish the data centers as the central hub for OpenAI’s U.S. capabilities. They will operate in Texas, New Mexico, Ohio, and a Midwest location that has not been revealed, Fortune reports. OpenAI’s planned Stargate data centers will draw a combined seven gigawatts of power, which would give them massive computing capability.

Don’t Miss:

OpenAI’s move comes as big tech competitors like Microsoft and Meta are making multibillion-dollar investments to upgrade their own data processing capabilities. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced his company would spend hundreds of billions to create its own network of high-powered data centers in a quest to achieve what he described as “superintelligence,” in a July statement.

The move by OpenAI and other leading tech companies toward giant, gigawatt data centers is a leap forward from the previous gold standard for processing power, the hyperscale data center. There appears to be a collective belief that the older data centers, which draw several hundred megawatts of power, cannot meet AI’s ever-growing demands.

One of OpenAI’s Stargate data centers is currently under construction in Abilene, Texas.  It’s a massive 800-acre facility that has enough fiber-optic cable running through it to wrap around the world 16 times, according to Fortune. In September, Altman and Oracle CEO Clay Magouryk invited members of the media to tour the center. Other attendees included Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, SoftBank representatives, and local government officials from Abilene.

Trending: If there was a new fund backed by Jeff Bezos offering a 7-9% target yield with monthly dividends would you invest in it?

“We cannot fall behind in the need to put the infrastructure together to make this revolution happen,” Altman told the assembled reporters. “What you saw today is just like a small fraction of what this site will eventually be, and this site is just a small fraction or building, and all of that will still not be enough to serve even the demand of ChatGPT.”

Cruz also stressed the strategic importance of the U.S. keeping a global competitive edge. “Message number one: America will beat China in the race for AI,” he said. Although the construction of the Abilene data center is ongoing, it is already operational due to its use of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure technology, Fortune Reports. These are the kind of side benefits OpenAI gets through the partnership.

See Also: The ‘ChatGPT of Marketing’ Just Opened a $0.81/Share Round — 10,000+ Investors Are Already In

Despite Altman’s bullish outlook on OpenAI’s future capabilities, one threat could upend not only his plans but also Zuckerberg’s. The megawatt power needed by their proposed super data centers could place even more strain on regional energy grids than they can handle. Texas, where the latest OpenAI facility is being built, has suffered through several highly publicized, large-scale blackouts caused by the failure of its electric grid.

Cruz, however, is still confident that the Lone Star State can accommodate OpenAI’s Abilene facility.  “Texas is ground zero for AI,” he added. “What do you want when you’re building AI data centers? Number one, you want abundant, low-cost energy. Welcome to the great state of Texas.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/openais-400-billion-plan-build-144610891.html