The AI race just heated up again. OpenAI’s Stargate Project scales with 5 new US data centers, backed by Oracle, SoftBank. With a $100 billion Series A round and 10 GW planned for 2029, this step reflects the ambition. Stargate is not all machines. It’s about jobs and infrastructure, and America’s role in the tech world. By way of context, AI compute spending nearly doubled last year, and demand shows no signs of slowing down. This expansion moves the U.S. closer to securing dominance in a growing global contest.
Building the Stargate Network
The expansion adds five massive data centers to Stargate’s growing footprint. Alongside the existing Texas site, the project will now support over 2 million chips, far more than most national labs. Oracle’s role is critical here. One company, by itself, will provide 4.5 gigawatts worth of data capacity. That’s close to half of what Stargate targets 10 gigawatts. SoftBank adds a different piece. Its venture arm is experimenting with novel designs so data centers can effectively accommodate dense AI workloads. This is not just about tech companies chasing size.
It’s also about constructing a core infrastructure that can support huge models like ChatGPT. With over 700 million people users every week, the demand for compute is booming. Industry research uncovers GPU spend will represent 75% AI infrastructure by 2028. Stargate riding that wave NVIDIA is already tied in. With its GPUs to power the first full gigawatt of compute in the initiative. By 2026, they should start “token gen” at scale. On the other hand, stargate isn’t a plan anymore. It’s becoming the biggest, most organized AI buildout ever.
Growing Power, Rising Concerns
Projects such as Stargate make news for their scale. But the noise itself is perilous too. MIT research finds next-gen AI hubs devour as much as eight times energy as legacy workloads. Which implies their host cities must contend with higher electricity usage, potential grid strain, and secondary environmental effects. Supporters argue the buildout will also create jobs and reindustrialize regions. The white house has tied stargate to the broader economic recovery objectives, highlighting workforce development and supply chain rebuilding. At the same time, not everyone sees consolidation as positive.
With Oracle, SoftBank, NVIDIA and OpenAI leading the buildout, skeptics fear creativity might shrink. Smaller labs will depend on Stargate access rather than having their own. There’s another question, sustainability. Would this scale of infrastructure even work on renewables? Others worry that it can’t–at least not anytime soon. But companies claim they’re examining renewable integration, from solar add-ons to liquid cooling layouts. Finally, the collapse shows promise and frailty. Although Stargate represents unstoppable power, it also forces choices about the price of rapid AI growth.
Conclusion
OpenAI’s Stargate project is mapping the future of AI worldwide. Oracle and SoftBank’s involvement highlights how a few giants control the next leap. Capacity’s going up, costs are enormous and the hazard is economic and ecological. The project’s footprint will extend for decades—from jobs to watts. We’ll see if it’s sustainable or onerous. What’s clear, however, is that Stargate is more than data centers. It’s the future of centralized AI power, constructed at a breathtaking pace, and witnessed by the entire world.
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