OpenAI plans to spend over $30 billion on a massive data center campus in Georgia as part of the Stargate project, substantially expanding frontier AI compute capacity.
OpenAI plans to spend tens of billions of dollars on a massive new data center near Savannah, Georgia, as part of its push to keep up with surging demand for artificial intelligence software.
The startup has contracted with Georgia Power Co. and secured 3.2 gigawatts of energy for the data center complex in Effingham County, potentially positioning the facility among OpenAI's largest to date. Several hundred megawatts are expected to come online starting in 2028, with full development extending through 2032. A single gigawatt is enough to power approximately 750,000 US homes at any given time.
OpenAI committed to spend $20 billion in the county to qualify for an incentive package scheduled for a vote this week. At the full 3.2-gigawatt scale, the total project cost would likely exceed $30 billion, according to Sachin Katti, vice president of compute strategy at OpenAI. The company is actively seeking partners to help finance and develop the facility and may operate portions of it independently.
CEO Sam Altman has previously stated he expects OpenAI to spend trillions of dollars on physical infrastructure to support its long-term AI ambitions. The company has partnered with developers on large data centers across Europe, the Middle East, and several US states through its Stargate initiative.
In recent months, however, OpenAI has pulled back from projects in the UK and Norway, and declined to expand its footprint at its flagship Stargate campus in Texas. These decisions coincided with efforts to streamline investments and product portfolio as the company evaluated a potential public offering.
Originally conceived as a joint venture with Oracle Corp. and SoftBank Group Corp., Stargate projects have since featured varying partner combinations. OpenAI has increasingly taken the lead in planning and designing facilities, including the Georgia complex.
"Now that we have gone through two or three generations of compute, there's a bunch of lessons around how these things should be designed that can cut both costs as well as make it faster to build," Katti said. "That's why we are putting our foot forward and leading the design and the whole process here."
OpenAI plans to standardize its AI data center designs and release them publicly as a reference for other companies—an initiative similar to the Open Compute Project co-founded by Meta Platforms Inc. in 2011. The company intends to open-source designs and plans for data centers, hardware, and networking infrastructure.
Other AI competitors are similarly expanding computing resources. Anthropic PBC has announced a series of recent agreements to meet demand, including access to more than 300 megawatts of capacity from SpaceX's Colossus 1 data center in Memphis. Meta has committed to spend more than $250 billion on a single data center campus in Louisiana.
However, a growing number of projects face intense local opposition, as communities and political leaders raise concerns about the impact on utility prices and the environment. This resistance risks delaying expensive ventures the tech industry considers essential for building and supporting AI products.
OpenAI said it will bear the full cost of electrical infrastructure and power for the Georgia facilities, noting that state rules prohibit passing costs to existing customers. The company also stated the facility is designed to proactively reduce power consumption during high-demand periods to minimize impact on nearby residents. The data center will employ a closed-loop cooling system that recirculates water to reduce consumption.
The company also committed to pay hundreds of millions in state and local taxes, establish a community fund, and offer AI service credits to local students. While OpenAI has already met with county officials, resident conversations will begin Thursday to address any remaining concerns, said Chris Lehane, chief global affairs officer.
"All issues are going to be local," Lehane said. "It's really important to understand it's not always going to be a cookie-cutter approach."