OpenAI is searching the U.S. for sites to build a network of big information centers to power its expert system innovation, broadening beyond a flagship Texas place and looking throughout 16 states to speed up the Stargate task championed by President Donald Trump.
The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for propositions for land, electricity, engineers and designers and started visiting places in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin today.
Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, quickly after going back to the White House last month.
The collaboration said it is investing $100 billion - and eventually up to $500 billion - to construct massive information centers and the energy generation required to further AI development. Trump called the job a "resounding statement of confidence in America ´ s possible" under his brand-new administration, though the very first job in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months.
Elon Musk, a Trump advisor and fierce rival of OpenAI who remains in a legal fight with the business and its CEO Sam Altman, has actually publicly questioned the value of Stargate's investments.
After Trump's announcement, a variety of states connected to OpenAI about inviting additional data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice president of international affairs, informed press reporters Thursday.
The business's demand for proposals requires sites with "proximity to necessary facilities consisting of power and water."
AI utilizes huge amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which triggers environment change. Data centers also normally draw in large amounts of water for cooling. Some tech giants have started financing nuclear power to plug into their information centers.
OpenAI's proposal makes no reference of whether it means to prioritize sustainable energy sources such as wind or solar to power the data centers. But it states electrical energy service providers should have a plan to manage carbon emissions and water usage.
"There ´ s some sites we ´ re taking a look at where we wish to help be part of the procedure that brings new power to that site, either from new gas implementation or other ways," said Keith Heyde, who directs OpenAI ´ s facilities technique.
The first Texas project remains in an area Abilene Mayor Weldon Hurt has actually explained to The Associated Press as rich in multiple energy sources, including wind, solar and gas. Also explaining it that method is the company that began building the AI information center campus there in June - the exact same 2 "big, gorgeous buildings" that Altman displayed in a recent drone on social networks.
Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller said that wind power is main to the task his business is constructing, though it will also have a gas-fired generator for backup power.
"We attempt to build data centers in areas where we can access low-priced, tidy and abundant energy resources," Lochmiller said. "West Texas really fits that mold where it is among the most regularly windy and warm locations in the United States."
Lochmiller said he expects the Trump administration, despite the president's opposition to wind farms, to be practical in supporting wind-powered information centers when it is "actually the most inexpensive method to gain access to energy."
Data centers taken in about 4.4% of all U.S. electrical energy in 2023 and that ´ s anticipated to increase to 6.7% to 12% of overall U.S. electrical energy by 2028, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The other states where OpenAI is actively looking consist of Arizona, California, Florida, library.kemu.ac.ke Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. Heyde said the company just prepares to build "someplace in between 5 to 10" campuses in overall, depending on how large every one is.
OpenAI previously depended on organization partner Microsoft for its computing needs. But the 2 business recently modified their collaboration to allow OpenAI to pursue data center development on its own.
Associated Press author Jamey Keaten added to this report.
The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and innovation agreement that enables OpenAI access to part of AP ´ s text archives.