OpenAI unveils plan to keep data-center energy costs in check
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FILE PHOTO: OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Jan 20 (Reuters) - OpenAI unveiled a Stargate Community plan on Tuesday, aimed at "paying its way on energy" and ensuring that its operations do not raise electricity costs for local communities.
Stargate is a $500 billion, multi-year initiative to build AI data centers for training and inference, backed by major investors including Oracle. U.S. President Donald Trump supported the initiative when it was first announced in January 2025.
As energy access becomes a key constraint on AI growth, several tech companies are investing directly in power infrastructure to support larger and more numerous data centers.
Each Stargate site will now have its own locally tailored community plan, "driven by community input and local concerns," OpenAI said.
"Depending on the site, this can range from bringing new dedicated power and storage that the project fully funds, to adding and paying for new energy generation and transmission resources."
OpenAI's announcement follows a similar initiative unveiled by Microsoft last week, aimed at reducing water usage at its U.S. data centers and minimizing any impact on local communities from potential surge in electricity prices.
Microsoft has said it will pay utility rates sufficient to cover its power expenses and collaborate with local utilities to expand supply as needed for its data centers.
(Reporting by Abu Sultan in Bengaluru and Krystal Hu in San Francisco; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
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