OpenAI and SoftBank to invest $1 billion in SB Energy for Stargate data centers
OpenAI and SoftBank Group (SoftBank) will invest $1 billion in SB Energy (SBE), splitting the funding evenly at $500 million each, to support data center development and related power infrastructure for the Stargate (Stargate) initiative.
SBE will build and operate OpenAI’s previously announced 1.2-gigawatt (GW) data center site in Milam County, Texas, as part of the partnership.
Stargate is described as a multi-year effort to expand large-scale computing infrastructure in the United States, with a stated plan to invest up to $500 billion by 2029. Planning for the initiative began in 2022, involving OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and investment firm MGX.
The latest investment is structured as equity funding into SBE, positioning the company as a development and execution partner for large data center campuses and associated energy infrastructure.
Alongside the data center buildout, SBE will also adopt OpenAI’s application programming interfaces (APIs) and deploy ChatGPT internally for employees.
OpenAI’s Stargate materials describe the initiative as focused on scaling the infrastructure required to train and run advanced artificial intelligence systems, including work tied to artificial general intelligence (AGI).
SBE’s announcement also references a broader pipeline of large data center campuses under development, with initial facilities expected to enter service beginning in 2026.
