Recently, my colleague Bob Evans flagged the progress of the Stargate project in relation to the steps Microsoft is taking to come out on top in the race for AI dominance with what it hails as the “world’s most powerful data center.”
I want to take a deeper dive into the news that Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank have now committed to building an additional five data centers. What does this mean for the project, and crucially, for U.S. efforts to lead the AI Revolution — a prominent ambition for the current administration?
What’s New?
Last week, OpenAI made a significant stride by announcing an additional five data centers in the U.S. This expansion will bring the combined capacity of the Stargate project, including the flagship site in Abilene, Texas, to a staggering 7GW. The move also represents a substantial investment of $400 billion by the Stargate group, just $100 billion short of the proposed $500 billion commitment.
The new sites will be located in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; a currently unannounced site in the Midwest; Lordstown, Ohio; and Milam County, Texas.
Three of the new sites will be developed by Oracle, adding to the Abilene, Texas, site which is now running on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). “Oracle’s reliable, scalable, and secure AI infrastructure is helping OpenAI rapidly scale its business,” said Clay Magouyrk, co-CEO of Oracle.
“To meet this enormous demand, we continue to expand OCI’s footprint at an unrivaled pace to deliver the most performant and cost-effective AI training and inferencing.”
Aside from the massive acceleration in data capacity, the combined sites also offer a wealth of employment opportunities. The four Stargate data centers being developed by Oracle are set to provide 25,000 onsite jobs and tens of thousands of others across the U.S., significantly boosting the economy.
AI Agent & Copilot Summit is an AI-first event to define opportunities, impact, and outcomes with Microsoft Copilot and agents. Building on its 2025 success, the 2026 event takes place March 17-19 in San Diego. Get more details.
The Global Outlook
The United States is undeniably leading the way in both data center capacity and the number of companies at the forefront of AI. When it comes to users of AI technologies and the firms that supply them, the following list outlines the key players:
United States: Google (Alphabet), Microsoft, OpenAI, Amazon (AWS), Meta, Apple, IBM, Salesforce
China: Tencent, Baidu, Alibaba, Huawei
South Korea: Samsung, Naver
Japan: Sony, SoftBank
Europe: DeepMind (UK), SAP (Germany), Nokia (Finland)
Regarding data center capacity, a report compiled by Visual Capitalist, based on data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), found the following:
| Country / Region | Installed Data Center Capacity (GW) |
|---|---|
| United States | 53.7 |
| China | 31.9 |
| European Union | 11.9 |
| Japan & South Korea | 6.6 |
| India | 3.6 |
| Other Asia Pacific | 3.1 |
| United Kingdom | 2.6 |
| Australia & New Zealand | 1.6 |
| Brazil | 0.6 |
| Other Central & South America | 1.4 |
| Middle East | 1.1 |
| Africa | 1.5 |
| Eurasia | 1.2 |
| Other North America | 1.5 |
| Total (Global) | 122.2 |
That said, the data used to compile this report, although it was released in July 2025, was based on the datasets compiled throughout 2024. While China is hot on the heels of the U.S, it’s important to note:
- Much of China’s data center infrastructure remains underutilized.
- Stargate, when complete and fully operational, will add 10GW to the total capacity in the U.S., and that’s not taking into account other major projects from Microsoft, AWS, and Meta.
Closing Thoughts
It’s important to view the staggering growth of the Stargate project alongside the other impressive efforts by leading AI organizations. This combined investment and commitment will ultimately ensure that the U.S. maintains a competitive edge in the AI infrastructure boom.
While China is undoubtedly making progress with its infrastructure developments, it is falling behind when it comes to making these advancements operational. This is the key factor: instead of remaining dormant, many sites in the U.S. are actively being utilized, representing a significant competitive advantage for the country.
Ask Cloud Wars AI Agent about this analysis
