OpenAI Unveils Plan to Keep Data-Center Energy Costs in Check

OpenAI has announced a new Stargate Community plan designed to ensure its expanding data center operations do not push up electricity costs for local communities. The initiative aims to make OpenAI’s large-scale AI infrastructure “pay its way on energy” as demand for computing power accelerates.

Stargate is a $500 billion, multi-year effort to build advanced AI data centers for training and inference, backed by investors including Oracle. The project received public support from U.S. President Donald Trump when it was first announced in early 2025.

Under the new approach, each Stargate site will have a locally tailored community plan shaped by local input and concerns. Depending on the location, OpenAI said this could involve fully funding dedicated power and storage, or paying for new energy generation and transmission capacity to support the facility.

The move reflects growing pressure on technology companies to address the strain that AI data centers place on power grids. OpenAI’s announcement follows a similar step by Microsoft, which recently outlined measures to manage water and electricity use at its U.S. data centers while working with utilities to expand local supply.