OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shares photos of ‘gigantic’ Stargate AI project: ‘Easy to throw around numbers, but…’

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has offered the public a rare glimpse into the monumental “Stargate” AI project, sharing photos of construction at the Abilene, Texas site and underscoring the sheer scale of the undertaking. In a recent post, Altman remarked, “Easy to throw around numbers, but this is a gigantic infrastructure project.” His comments come as OpenAI, in partnership with Oracle, announced an additional 4.5 gigawatts (GW) of data center capacity for the project, pushing Stargate’s total planned development beyond 5 GW.

The Stargate project, a joint venture involving OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle, and investment firm MGX, was formally announced in January 2025 with an ambitious goal of investing up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure in the United States by 2029. The initial commitment for immediate deployment was $100 billion. The Abilene facility, known as “Stargate I,” is already partially operational, with Oracle having delivered Nvidia GB200 racks last month, allowing OpenAI to commence early-stage AI training and inference workloads.

Altman’s recent remarks and shared images highlight the unprecedented need for computing power to fuel the next generation of AI models. OpenAI estimates that the expanded Stargate infrastructure will be capable of powering over two million AI processors. The company expects to exceed its initial $500 billion commitment, citing “strong momentum” with its partners.

While the project promises to create over 100,000 jobs in construction, operations, and related industries, its immense scale has also drawn skepticism, notably from Elon Musk, who has repeatedly questioned the financial viability of such a colossal undertaking. Despite these doubts, OpenAI and its partners maintain that the project is moving forward with urgency, with plans for further expansion in states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Wyoming, and even international ventures, including a 1 GW cluster planned for the UAE.

The “Stargate” initiative is not merely about building data centers; it represents a fundamental shift in the approach to AI development, emphasizing the need for dedicated, massive-scale infrastructure to unlock the full potential of artificial intelligence. As Altman emphasized, the numbers, while impressive, barely convey the true magnitude of what is being built to power the future of AI.