OpenAI confirms Project Stargate is still on, and its first site, Stargate I, is already partly operational in Abilene, Texas.

Axios Visuals OpenAI is finding that financing and building the massive data centers it needs to meet its ambitions is easier said than done. Why it matters: There's no limit on AI builders' hunger for computing capacity.

OpenAI and Oracle will develop another 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity, expanding a tie-up that has promised hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment to keep the U.S. ahead in the global artificial intelligence race.

OpenAI was the company that signed a $30 billion per year deal with Oracle for data center services, disclosed last month, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Now, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has confirmed the details of the contract (but not the dollar amount) in an X post on Tuesday and in a company blog post.

Stargate is a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank that aims to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S.

The latest agreement between OpenAI and Oracle will expand Stargate’s data center capacity, ultimately surpassing the halfway point of their goal.

In addition to the 4.5 gigawatts of capacity announced today, Oracle is responsible for building one of OpenAI’s Texas data center campuses. The site is expected to house up to 400,000 of Nvidia Corp.’s GB200 Grace Blackwell accelerators. Each chip features two Blackwell B200 graphics cards and a 72-core Grace central processing unit.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that OpenAI and Softbank have not been able to agree on key issues regarding the partnership, including where to build the new sites. The group is now aiming to open a single, smaller data center, likely in Ohio, by the end of the year, according to sources familiar with the matter.

OpenAI is scaling up its plans with Oracle. Meanwhile, questions remain about Softbank's involvement in the Stargate AI project.

Just over a year ago, Altman broke into the clay and sand of Abilene, Texas, to begin building the biggest data center in the world. The Stargate campus, when completed, would be about 60 acres larger than New York City’s Central Park. Construction of the campus’ first two buildings is scheduled to finish this summer.

Crusoe, the startup behind the first data center for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate project, is seeking around $1 billion in new equity, The Information reported Wednesday . The firm is both a real estate developer that builds data centers for other companies and a cloud provider that rents out AI chips from its facilities.