OpenAI unveiled a Stargate community plan on Tuesday that aims to "cover its own energy costs" and ensure its operations do not increase power costs for local communities. Stargate, a $500 billion, multi-year initiative to build artificial intelligence data centers for training and inference, is backed by major investors including Oracle ORCL.N . US President Trump expressed support for this initiative when he first announced it in January 2025.
As energy supply becomes a key factor restricting the development of artificial intelligence, some technology companies are investing directly in power infrastructure to support larger and more data centers.
OpenAI says each Stargate site will now have its own locally tailored community program "driven by community input and local concerns."
“Depending on the site, this may include the introduction of new dedicated power and storage that is fully funded by the project, or it may include adding and paying for new energy generation and transmission resources”.
OpenAI's announcement follows a similar move unveiled by Microsoft last week to reduce water use in its U.S. data centers and minimize the impact on local communities of a potential surge in electricity prices.