OpenAI's huge AI data center launches in Texas-two more incoming

OpenAI's massive Stargate AI data center in Abilene is officially up and running-and two more are already on the way to Texas.

The company announced Tuesday that it is expanding the project with five additional sites across the U.S., including new facilities in Shackelford County and Milam County, as part of a sweeping $500 billion infrastructure initiative backed by Oracle and SoftBank.

In total, five new data centers were announced this week, with additional facilities slated for Doña Ana County, New Mexico; Lordstown, Ohio; and an undisclosed location in the Midwest.

The Abilene site , already home to one operating data hall, is a sprawling complex of eight H-shaped buildings that will house more than 60,000 server racks powered by Nvidia GB200 chips-hardware built for large-scale AI training. Oracle executives say the project is on track to be the world's largest "AI supercluster."

"When you hit that button on ChatGPT, you really don't-I don't, at least-think about what happens inside the data halls," said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman , who visited the site Tuesday.

The Stargate project is also being touted as a major local economic engine. Oracle says more than 6,000 construction workers currently report to the site daily. Once fully built, it's expected to support 1,700 permanent onsite jobs and generate thousands of indirect roles across the region.

Mayor Weldon Hurt called the project "transformational" for Abilene, a longtime railroad and agricultural town.

Despite the economic boost, the Stargate complex has also raised concerns about its environmental impact. The facility will require approximately 900 megawatts of electricity-a scale comparable to a mid-sized city-and is supported by both local grid sources and a new on-site gas-fired power plant.

Some residents worry about the environmental footprint, specifically the project's strain on local water supplies and energy resources. Abilene's reservoirs are only half full, and the city already enforces a two-day-a-week outdoor watering rule.

OpenAI and Oracle hosted a media and political tour of the site Tuesday. Senator Ted Cruz was present on the tour, calling Texas "ground zero for AI."

"If you're building a data center, what do you want? Abundant, low-cost energy," Cruz said.

Whether that energy (and water) will stretch far enough remains to be seen.

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