By Micah Jonah
January 10, 2026
OpenAI and SoftBank Group have committed a combined one billion dollars to SB Energy to accelerate the expansion of power and data center infrastructure supporting their Stargate artificial intelligence initiative.
SB Energy confirmed that each company will invest five hundred million dollars in the SoftBank owned energy firm. The investment will support the development of large scale data centers and the electricity infrastructure required to run advanced AI systems.
As part of the deal, SB Energy will build and operate a previously announced one point two gigawatt data center in Milam County, Texas. The facility is designed to support OpenAI’s growing demand for computing power used in AI training and inference.
SB Energy will also become a customer of OpenAI, adopting its application programming interfaces and deploying ChatGPT for internal use across its workforce.
Stargate is a five hundred billion dollar multi year initiative, aimed at building next generation AI data centres across the United States.
The project is backed by several major investors, including Oracle, and received public support from United States President, Donald Trump, when it was announced in January 2025.
The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence is driving technology companies to invest directly in power generation and energy infrastructure, as access to reliable electricity has become a major constraint on AI growth. Large data centers require vast amounts of power for computing, cooling, and server operations.
SB Energy said it is developing multiple data center campuses, with the first facilities expected to begin operations later this year.
The data center construction boom has also prompted other technology giants, including Meta Platforms, to commit unprecedented levels of capital to infrastructure projects tied to AI development.
Meanwhile, OpenAI continues to face rising costs associated with training and running its AI systems amid intensifying competition from rivals such as Google.
Chief executive, Sam Altman has previously told staff the company is operating in a high priority mode focused on strengthening ChatGPT as competition in generative AI accelerates.
