OpenAI plans to extend its ambitious $500 billion Stargate data center project beyond the United States, with international expansions aimed at promoting “democratic artificial intelligence” and reinforcing Western leadership in the sector, the company said this week.
Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s global affairs vice-president, said the expanded investment would go “above and beyond” what the company has pledged in the US, as part of a broader strategy to provide an alternative to China’s growing AI influence and to promote principles such as free speech, open markets, and privacy protections.
Stargate, launched in January at a White House event attended by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President Donald Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison, currently comprises a single partially built data center in Abilene, Texas. Trump lauded the domestic project as a “declaration of confidence in America,” framing it as a cornerstone of US technological leadership.
Now, OpenAI is pitching a global version of the initiative — internally dubbed “OpenAI for countries” — to historic US allies, with interest reportedly expressed by governments in France, Germany, and the UK. The Financial Times previously reported that OpenAI was actively considering an investment in the UK.
While no formal international agreements have yet been signed, OpenAI says it is targeting ten projects in close coordination with the US government. The company envisions a global infrastructure push akin to the early internet era, with AI data center investments potentially totaling trillions of dollars.
Unlike in the US, where SoftBank is leading the financing, overseas Stargate ventures will rely on bespoke partnerships with governments, sovereign wealth funds, private equity firms, and institutional capital. “Our additional role is in providing the best AI technology,” said Lehane. “Having us involved to create this structure helps attract that capital.”
The proposed collaborations would also give countries a potential route to access cutting-edge US-made semiconductors, currently restricted under new export controls. Nations like India, Israel, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE — classified as “tier two” — face limitations on chip imports unless they align with certain democratic standards and infrastructure investment strategies.
“In our submission to Trump’s White House, we [in March] had made the proposal that they attract investment into US infrastructure by giving investors a way of moving from tier two to tier one,” Lehane added. “We’ve had folks reach out from all over the world.”
With AI infrastructure emerging as the next geopolitical battleground, OpenAI’s Stargate initiative signals a growing convergence of technology, diplomacy, and national security interests — one where data centers are fast becoming the modern equivalents of defense outposts.
