Massive AI Stargate Project under Trump admin reveals next steps

OpenAI says each 1GW supercomputer campus in the US could create thousands of jobs

By Nikolas Lanum Fox News

Published February 13, 2025 5:00am EST

Stargate, the massive artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project recently unveiled by President Donald Trump, has begun production in Texas — with data center construction in other states expected to be announced in the coming months.

OpenAI, Softbank, Oracle and other partners' total investment of $500 million in the project will produce a large-scale network of campuses. Each campus will be designed in the roughly 1 gigawatt (GW) or greater range, a measurement of electricity that can power a minimum of 750,000 homes.

During a recent press briefing on The Stargate Project attended by Fox News Digital, OpenAI announced that construction on the first site is underway in Abilene, Texas. Significant progress has been made in identifying additional locations. Stargate is currently weighing 16 additional states as options for future sites.

"We are really privileged to be with the president, who made clear that Stargate is incredibly important to U.S. nation building," OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane said during the briefing, noting that Donald Trump has been engaged in conversations regarding AI infrastructure since the summer of 2024.

Lehane also said OpenAI has been "blown away" by how Texas is thinking about AI, calling it a state that is "certainly thinking big, acting big and looking to build big."

Stargate's short-term rollout is as follows, according to Lehane, OpenAI Chief Economist Ronnie Chatterji, and Keith Heyde, the company's director of Infrastructure Strategy and Deployment.

Finalize the site selection process for additional Stargate campuses

Engage with state governments and local communities to secure support and partnerships for The Stargate Project

Develop economic models to quantify the job creation and broader economic impacts of the Stargate campuses

Coordinate with utility providers and energy companies to ensure sustainable and resilient power and water solutions for the sites

Establish connections with universities, hospitals and community colleges to build AI ecosystems around Stargate campuses

Stargate has also revealed a 3-phase site selection process. This will include evaluating potential sites for critical criteria, including power, size, water, people, and fiber.

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OpenAI estimates that each 1 GW supercomputer campus will generate thousands of jobs through direct, indirect and induced effects.

Direct effects are those employed directly by campuses in construction and operation roles. Indirect effects are how the initial industry's spending circulates within the local economy, while induced effects are how wages earned within the affected industries contribute to consumer spending in the region.

OpenAI has said that ensuring the world's most advanced AI supercomputers remain U.S.-based is crucial to maintaining a competitive advantage over the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The latest AI models launched by Chinese startup DeepSeek have spurred turmoil in the technology sector following its emergence as a potential rival to leading U.S.-based firms.

The emergence of the China-based firm has raised questions about leading U.S. tech companies investing billions of dollars in advanced chips and large data centers to train AI models. It also serves as a "Sputnik moment" for the AI race between the U.S. and China following the perception that the U.S. had an edge over its geopolitical rival in the emerging field.

During the press briefing, Lehane said that DeepSeek news clarifies that "this is a very real competition, and the stakes could not be bigger."

"Whoever ends up prevailing in this competition, it's going to really shape what the world looks like going forward. Whether we have democratic AI, it's free and open, or authoritarian AI that is autocratic. It's going to impact enormously whether people in this country get to participate in the upside," he continued.

The company announced an Infrastructure Blueprint in November and an Economic Blueprint in January as part of their push to build key AI ecosystem components.

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