OpenAI's CFO says Stargate is 'unlike anything we've done before'
OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar explains how AI is taking center stage at Davos, what the Stargate project means for the macroeconomy and details new products for key customers.
Oracle and OpenAI have inked an agreement to further develop the Stargate project as part of a broader pledge to expand Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the United States.
The two companies made the announcement on Tuesday, promising an additional 4.5 gigawatts of Stargate data center capacity, a move expected to create over 100,000 jobs across operations, construction, and indirect roles such as manufacturing and local services.
The new agreement continues a commitment to invest $500 billion in U.S.-based AI infrastructure over the next four years.
The 4.5 GW addition will bring the project to more than 5 GW of the 10 GW commitment.
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An aerial view of the Stargate construction site in Abilene, Texas. (OpenAI)
"This is almost a year to the day when Sam Altman sort of planted a flag on democratic AI versus autocratic AI," OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane told Fox News Digital.
"There are a lot of anniversaries overlapping. Six months to almost the day since we announced the Stargate concept with President Trump on the first full day of his presidency, along with Oracle and Stargate. We’re now in a place where we have a concrete path forward," he later added.
According to OpenAI, the company now anticipates exceeding its initial target, citing "strong momentum" and its partnerships with Oracle and SoftBank.
"This investment will create new jobs, accelerate America’s reindustrialization, and help advance U.S. AI leadership," OpenAI said, referencing its plan to deliver massive computing power and support to the U.S. economy.
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The OpenAI and Oracle logos are seen next to one of the NVIDIA GB200s installed in Abilene. (OpenAI/CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"It also marks a major milestone for Stargate, OpenAI’s AI infrastructure platform and long-term vision to deliver the benefits of AI to everyone," the company continued.
At the Stargate I site in Abilene, Texas, parts of the facility are now up and running. Oracle began delivering the first Nvidia GB200 racks in June, and OpenAI says it has begun running early training and inference workloads with this new capacity to push its "next-generation frontier research."
The announcement noted that the Stargate I site has already created thousands of jobs, with more expected as operations expand. New jobs will originate from more than 20 states, according to OpenAI.
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In May, OpenAI announced new investment into Stargate UAE, in collaboration with the Trump White House. (Getty Images/Photo illustration / Getty Images)
OpenAI also highlighted White House leadership as a pivotal force in driving innovation, job growth, and national competitiveness around AI infrastructure.
"Over the past six months, growing interest in Stargate has helped shape and expand our vision for this effort. Stargate is OpenAI’s overarching AI infrastructure platform, encompassing ongoing data center partnerships with Oracle, SoftBank, and CoreWeave, and international investments in U.S. infrastructure through OpenAI for Countries. It builds on our longstanding and ongoing compute partnership with Microsoft, which continues to serve as a technology partner to Stargate," the company added.
