“Stargate” Expands Again! Five New AI Data Centers to Be Built in the U.S.

TradingKey - On Tuesday (U.S. Eastern Time), OpenAI, cloud provider Oracle, and investment giant SoftBank jointly announced plans to build five new AI data centers in the United States as part of the expanded “Stargate” infrastructure initiative. Launched in January 2025, the Stargate project aims to deliver 10 gigawatts (GW) of AI computing capacity within four years.

This expansion increases the total planned capacity of the Stargate initiative from nearly 7 GW to 10 GW, with an estimated total investment of $500 billion — up from approximately $400 billion invested over the prior three years.

The first site in Abilene, Texas, has already brought some facilities online, with plans for an additional 600 megawatts (MW) of capacity. The Shackelford project is now under construction and expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “Artificial intelligence can only fulfill its promise when we build the compute that powers it.”

Sources indicate that OpenAI and its partners plan to use debt financing to lease chips for the Stargate project.

Two sites involving SoftBank are set to begin expansion next year. The three locations developed through the Oracle-OpenAI partnership are expected to deliver over 5.5 GW of computing power and create more than 25,000 jobs.

With artificial intelligence playing an increasingly critical role in sensitive areas such as national defense — and amid growing competition from China — advanced computing has become a top priority for President Trump. This latest move marks a full-scale escalation in tech giants’ race to dominate AI infrastructure.

However, the project still faces challenges related to power supply, water usage, environmental impact assessments, and local coordination, which could affect the pace and scale of deployment.