- Stargate is OpenAI's bid to build the data center infrastructure it needs for AI
- It initially aimed at building facilities in the U.S.
- A project in the UAE is its first - but not last - international venture
People of a certain age will know "Stargate" as the name of a killer sci-fi flick and TV show that ran until 2007. But the Stargate making headlines these days has less to do with a mysterious portal to other planets and more to do with the AI overlords that are about to take over.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Stargate Project and who is involved.
Announced in January 2025, the Stargate Project is a company to build AI infrastructure — data centers — for ChatGPT creator OpenAI.
OpenAI initially said Stargate would spend $500 billion over four years rolling out new facilities in the U.S., with an upfront investment wave totaling $100 billion. SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX joined OpenAI as investment partners, while Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle and OpenAI were listed as technology partners.
Work on the first U.S. facility is already underway in Texas. There, Crusoe is building an eight-building, 1.2 gigawatt campus that will eventually house up to 400,000 Nvidia chips.
Two buildings, which will each house 50,000 chips, have already been completed and will be lit up in the first half of 2025. With funding secured for Phase 2 of the build and construction of the remaining six buildings underway, Crusoe said it is aiming to connect the remaining facilities by mid-2026.
More U.S. campus announcements are likely on the way in 2025, as OpenAI said in its Stargate launch blog that the company is “evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize definitive agreements.”
International expansion
OpenAI’s infrastructure ambitions have expanded beyond the U.S. In response to demand from global governments, the company launched “OpenAI for Countries” in early May 2025, aiming to strike 10 deals to bring its compute power to key countries and regions.
The first such deal was announced later the same month: Stargate UAE.
The 1 GW Stargate UAE facility is currently under construction in Abu Dhabi, with 200 MW of capacity expected to come online in 2026. It will be part of a larger 5 GW AI data center campus the U.S. is building with the United Arab Emirates to provide compute capacity in the region for hyperscalers.
As in the U.S., SoftBank, Nvidia, and Oracle are all involved in the international project, as are Cisco and Emirati development company and technology investment vehicle G42. Cisco is specifically on board to supply networking, security and observability hardware and software.
More announcements about international Stargate projects are likely on the way. OpenAI noted in late May that its Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon was about to start a tour of the Asia Pacific region to meet with government officials and prospective partners.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.