OpenAI, SoftBank invest $1 billion in SB Energy to expand data centre power for Stargate initiative

OpenAI and SoftBank Group will invest $500 million each in SB Energy to expand data centres and power infrastructure for their Stargate initiative. SB Energy, a SoftBank-owned company, will build and operate OpenAI’s previously announced 1.2-gigawatt data centre site in Texas. Stargate is a $500 billion multi-year initiative to build AI data centers for training and inference, backed by major investors including Oracle. President Donald Trump backed the initiative when the companies announced the plan in January 2025.

With the push for larger and more numerous data centers driving electricity demand, tech companies are investing directly in power infrastructure as energy access becomes a critical constraint on AI expansion. SB Energy is developing several data-center campuses, with initial facilities expected to begin service this year.

The partnership "accelerates our delivery of advanced AI data center campuses and associated energy infrastructure at the scale required to advance Stargate and secure America's AI future," SB Energy co-CEO Rich Hossfeld said.

The data center construction boom has also prompted major players including Meta Platforms to allocate unprecedented sums to infrastructure projects that require massive investments in chips, power, cooling, and servers.

Meanwhile, OpenAI faces rising expenses for training and operating its AI systems amid intensifying competition from Alphabet's Google.