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OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank to Build Five New AI Data Centers for $500 Billion Stargate Project

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OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank announced plans to construct five new artificial intelligence data centers in the United States as part of their massive Stargate project, an initiative expected to reshape AI infrastructure.

President Donald Trump hosted leading tech CEOs in January to launch Stargate, a private-sector effort aiming to spend up to $500 billion on the compute power needed to support the next generation of AI.

OpenAI and Oracle will build three new facilities in Shackelford County, Texas, Doña Ana County, New Mexico, and an undisclosed Midwestern site. Together with SoftBank and its affiliate, OpenAI will also develop two additional centers in Lordstown, Ohio, and Milam County, Texas.

These new facilities, combined with Oracle-OpenAI’s Abilene, Texas expansion and ongoing projects with CoreWeave, will boost Stargate’s total data center capacity to nearly 7 gigawatts. According to OpenAI, this represents over $400 billion in investments over the next three years. The ultimate goal remains 10 gigawatts of total capacity.

“AI can only fulfill its promise if we build the compute to power it,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement.

The new projects are expected to create 25,000 on-site jobs. The announcement follows Nvidia’s pledge on Monday to invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and supply data center chips.

To finance Stargate, OpenAI and its partners plan to use debt financing and lease chips, according to sources familiar with the matter.

With backing from Microsoft, OpenAI joins other tech giants pouring billions into AI infrastructure to support services such as ChatGPT and Copilot.

Given AI’s growing importance in sensitive fields like defense—and with China racing to catch up—both the private sector and the Trump administration have made AI infrastructure a strategic priority.

Micron tops forecasts with AI-fueled HBM demand, sees strong Q1 revenue

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Micron Technology projected first-quarter revenue of $12.5 billion ± $300 million, well above Wall Street’s estimate of $11.94 billion, as booming demand for its high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips drives growth amid the AI race.

AI demand supercharges Micron

  • Q4 HBM revenue hit nearly $2 billion, putting Micron on pace for ~$8B annually, CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said.

  • HBM chips, built by stacking DRAM vertically, reduce power use while enabling massive data processing — making them indispensable for training and running advanced AI models.

  • Micron is a key HBM supplier to Nvidia, whose dominance in AI accelerators makes HBM supply one of the most competitive battlegrounds in semiconductors.

2026 outlook already sold out

  • Micron expects to lock in deals for all 2026 HBM capacity in the coming months.

  • HBM3E pricing agreements are nearly complete; HBM4 pricing talks are ongoing.

  • “The pricing on HBM4 is actually significantly higher than the pricing on HBM3E,” said Chief Business Officer Sumit Sadana, citing tight supply and strong ROI expectations.

  • TSMC will partner with Micron to manufacture the base logic die for its HBM4E chips.

Financial performance

  • Adjusted Q4 EPS: $3.03, topping forecasts.

  • Adjusted gross margin forecast (Q1): 51.5%, far above expectations of 45.9%.

  • Analysts said stronger-than-expected pricing drove the margin boost.

U.S. policy and subsidies

  • Micron has received $6.2B under the CHIPS and Science Act, passed under former President Joe Biden.

  • Current Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is exploring converting subsidies into equity stakes in chipmakers, but Sadana said Micron does not expect its grant terms to change.

  • Micron recently received a disbursement after completing a milestone at its Idaho fab, Mehrotra confirmed.

Big picture

Micron is riding the wave of AI-driven chip demand, securing long-term contracts at higher prices while boosting profitability. With HBM4 set to command premium pricing, Micron is positioning itself as a critical player alongside Nvidia, Samsung, and SK Hynix in the global AI supply chain.

Global companies pour billions into AI infrastructure with mega-deals

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A wave of multi-billion dollar investments is reshaping the AI landscape as chipmakers, cloud providers, and tech giants race to secure computing power for next-generation artificial intelligence. The surge follows OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in 2022, which sparked unprecedented demand for GPUs, cloud infrastructure, and data centers.

Key deals fueling the AI boom:

  • Nvidia & OpenAI – Nvidia to invest up to $100B in OpenAI and supply advanced AI chips, cementing its dominance in the AI ecosystem.

  • Nvidia & Intel – Nvidia invests $5B for a ~4% stake in Intel.

  • Oracle & Meta – In talks on a $20B cloud deal to boost Meta’s AI compute.

  • Oracle & OpenAI – Landmark deal worth $300B over five years for OpenAI to buy Oracle cloud capacity.

  • CoreWeave & Nvidia – $6.3B order ensuring Nvidia-backed startup CoreWeave absorbs unused cloud demand.

  • Nebius Group & Microsoft – $17.4B, five-year GPU deal to bolster Microsoft’s infrastructure.

  • Meta & Google – Six-year, $10B cloud agreement signed in August.

  • Intel & SoftBank – SoftBank injects $2B into Intel, becoming a top-10 shareholder.

  • Tesla & Samsung – $16.5B chip supply deal for Tesla’s next-gen AI6 chip, produced in Texas.

  • Meta & Scale AI – Meta takes 49% stake ($14.3B) in Scale AI, elevating CEO Alexandr Wang’s role in Meta’s AI strategy.

  • Google & Windsurf – $2.4B licensing deal for AI code generation tech.

  • CoreWeave & OpenAI – $11.9B, five-year contract signed before CoreWeave’s IPO.

  • Stargate Datacenter Project – Joint venture by SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, backed by U.S. President Donald Trump, with up to $500B in AI infrastructure funding.

  • Amazon & Anthropic – Amazon doubles down with a total $4B investment in Anthropic, developer of the Claude chatbot.

Why it matters:

  • Capital intensity: AI development is now measured in hundreds of billions, with infrastructure demands rivaling traditional energy projects.

  • Strategic alliances: Tech giants are securing long-term chip and cloud capacity to avoid bottlenecks.

  • Geopolitical edge: Governments, particularly the U.S., are encouraging private-public mega-projects like Stargate to keep ahead in the AI race.

The investment frenzy highlights a simple truth: the future of AI hinges not just on algorithms, but on who controls the world’s computing power.