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OpenAI to rent more computing power from Oracle data centres as part of Stargate deal

Totalling about 4.5 gigawatts, the unprecedented sum of energy could power millions of homes

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Oracle and OpenAI are expanding their Stargate deal. Photo: AP
OpenAI has agreed to rent a massive amount of computing power from Oracle data centres as part of its Stargate initiative, underscoring the intense requirements for cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) products.

The AI company will rent additional capacity from Oracle totalling about 4.5 gigawatts of data centre power in the US, according to people familiar with the work who asked not to be named discussing private information.

That is an unprecedented sum of energy that could power millions of American homes. A gigawatt is akin to the capacity from one nuclear reactor and can provide electricity to roughly 750,000 houses.

Earlier this week, Oracle announced that it had signed a single cloud computing deal worth US$30 billion in annual revenue beginning in financial year 2028 without naming the customer. This Stargate agreement makes up at least part of that disclosed contract, according to one of the people.

Construction is under way on a Project Stargate AI infrastructure site – a collaboration between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle – in Abilene, Texas. Photo: Reuters
Construction is under way on a Project Stargate AI infrastructure site – a collaboration between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle – in Abilene, Texas. Photo: Reuters

Stargate – OpenAI’s project with partners including Oracle and SoftBank Group to invest US$500 billion in AI infrastructure – was first announced in January at the White House. So far, Oracle has developed a massive data centre in Abilene, Texas, for OpenAI alongside development partner Crusoe.

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