OpenAI’s largest data centre scores US$11.6b for expansion: WSJ
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The news: A Texas data centre being built for OpenAI by startup Crusoe has secured USD11.6 billion ($18 billion) in funding to expand from two to eight buildings, increasing ChatGPT’s long-term computing capabilities.
The numbers: The debt and equity funding will increase the total amount secured for the project to USD15 billion, with both Crusoe and Blue Owl Capital contributing cash to the financing.
The data centre is set to be OpenAI's largest, with each building running as many as 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips.
The context: The expansion of the Abilene, Texas site is pivotal to OpenAI’s efforts to reduce its reliance on Microsoft as it competes to build the next generation of AI models. OpenAI has previously relied solely on Microsoft for its computing power, but struck a deal with Oracle last year after its frustrations with Microsoft’s inability to keep up with demand boiled over.
In January OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced plans for his USD500 billion AI infrastructure project coined ‘Stargate’, alongside Softbank and Oracle. Earlier this month Altman said “great to see progress on the first stargate in abilene with our partners at oracle today. will be the biggest ai training facility in the world,” via X.
The sources: WSJ, Altman X post
