Oracle is set to invest approximately $40 billion in Nvidia’s cutting-edge GB200 chips to power a new state-of-the-art data center being built by OpenAI in Abilene, Texas, according to a report by the Financial Times. The investment marks one of the largest known purchases of high-performance AI hardware, as tech giants ramp up infrastructure spending to meet the surging demand for artificial intelligence computing power.
The Texas-based site, described as the first U.S. “Stargate” project, is a cornerstone of a broader $500 billion global data center initiative led by OpenAI and SoftBank. Once completed in 2026, the facility will deliver an estimated 1.2 gigawatts of power, making it one of the largest AI training and inference campuses in the world.
Oracle plans to acquire about 400,000 of Nvidia’s GB200 “superchips,” designed to train and operate advanced AI systems. The computing power will be leased to OpenAI over a 15-year period, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.
Crusoe and Blue Owl Capital, joint owners of the Abilene project, have raised $15 billion in combined debt and equity to fund the construction, which began in June 2024. JPMorgan is reported to have led the debt financing, contributing $9.6 billion through two major loans, including a $7.1 billion package announced this week.
The ambitious project signals OpenAI’s strategic pivot away from its long-standing reliance on Microsoft for cloud computing resources. Previously, the $300 billion AI pioneer had leaned heavily on Microsoft’s infrastructure, backed by a $14 billion investment—mostly in the form of cloud credits. The two companies terminated their exclusivity agreement earlier this year, with ongoing negotiations now focused on Microsoft’s future licensing rights to OpenAI’s models.
The scale of the Abilene center is already drawing comparisons to Elon Musk’s “Colossus” data center in Memphis, Tennessee, which aims to house around 1 million Nvidia chips and achieve 1 gigawatt of AI training capacity. Amazon is also working on a data center project in Virginia slated to exceed 1GW.
Stargate, incorporated earlier this year, has yet to directly invest in the Abilene facility, though it is expected to play a pivotal role in OpenAI’s future infrastructure. OpenAI and SoftBank have each committed $18 billion to the broader Stargate initiative. Oracle and Abu Dhabi’s MGX have pledged an additional $7 billion each, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. SoftBank and OpenAI are reported to be the majority stakeholders in the venture.
As part of its global expansion, Stargate recently announced plans to build a 10-square-mile AI campus in Abu Dhabi through a partnership with Emirati AI firm G42. The UAE-US campus will feature up to 5GW of data center power—enough to support more than two million of Nvidia’s latest chips—and was unveiled during former President Donald Trump’s recent Gulf visit.
Representatives for Oracle did not immediately respond to requests for comment. JPMorgan and OpenAI also declined to comment.
