OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, announced on Thursday its evaluation of U.S. states as possible artificial intelligence data center locations for its extensive Stargate project. The initiative is portrayed as crucial for the United States to outpace China in the global AI competition.
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s chief global affairs officer, emphasized the significance of this competition, stating, "Whoever ends up prevailing in this competition is going to really shape what the world looks like going forward, whether we have democratic AI that's free and open, or authoritarian AI that is autocratic."
Recently, U.S. President introduced Stargate, a $500 billion private sector investment in AI infrastructure, backed by SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle, among others. Approximately 16 states have expressed interest in hosting Stargate data centers, with Texas positioned as the primary site, according to Lehane.
The initial data center in Abilene, Texas, is currently being constructed by the San Francisco-based startup Crusoe. OpenAI plans to start utilizing parts of the Abilene center later this year, with potential additional sites to be announced in the coming months. Keith Heyde, an OpenAI employee spearheading the site selection for Stargate, indicated they are considering establishing "somewhere between five to 10" centers as part of the project.
Shortly after Trump's Stargate announcement, DeepSeek, an emerging player, introduced a new approach, challenging the conventional belief that significant AI progress demands expansive, specialized data centers like those proposed by Stargate. This development caused a substantial market shift, especially impacting Nvidia, the leading AI chip manufacturer, resulting in a historic one-day loss of $593 billion in market value on Wall Street.