OpenAI resumes large-scale AI infrastructure push after 'Stargate' stumble

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is resuming an AI infrastructure expansion that had stalled for some time.

On Wednesday (local time), OpenAI announced the launch of "Project Camellia," a long-term initiative to build a 3.2 GW data center campus in Effingham County, Georgia.

One GW is roughly equivalent to the output of a single nuclear power plant — enough to power about 1 million households. The move marks a shift in direction after OpenAI's "Stargate" initiative — a data center buildout in the United States developed in partnership with SoftBank and Oracle — failed to gain traction, and the company withdrew from overseas data center projects in the United Kingdom and Norway.

OpenAI plans to invest $20 billion in the county for the project, with total costs expected to exceed $30 billion (44 trillion won) once the full 3.2 GW buildout is complete.

Compared with the Stargate initiative, OpenAI plans to take on a significantly larger role in the planning and design of the new facility. Sachin Katti, an OpenAI vice president, told Bloomberg that the company had "learned a lot of lessons about design approaches that can reduce cost and increase speed of construction across two to three generations of compute systems," adding, "That's why we are taking the lead and driving the design and the whole process."

As the infrastructure push accelerates, the budget has grown sharply. OpenAI had previously estimated it would spend $600 billion on AI computing capacity through 2030, but has since revised that figure upward to $750 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday, citing sources.

OpenAI has also recruited Brent Mayo, who led the data center expansion project at Elon Musk's AI company xAI — now known as SpaceX AI — sources said.

OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar has, however, repeatedly raised concerns about the infrastructure expansion. Friar has warned that the company may be unable to cover the cost of its computing infrastructure commitments if sales do not grow quickly enough, sources said.

OpenAI rival SpaceX AI is also aggressively expanding its infrastructure. The Information, citing multiple sources, reported that SpaceX AI is laying the groundwork to build new data centers in Austin and Bastrop, Texas. The expansion is expected to further increase AI-related capital expenditure at SpaceX, SpaceX AI's parent company.

SpaceX's capital expenditure in the first quarter surged to $7.7 billion — nearly triple the figure from the same period a year earlier — and Wall Street analysts estimate the company's capital spending could reach $120 billion by next year.