OpenAI is launching a massive data center expansion project called Stargate, with estimated costs reaching $500 billion and energy demands sufficient to power an entire city. The initiative, announced at the end of September, targets five key sites across the U.S.: Shackelford County and Milam County in Texas, Doña Ana County in New Mexico, Lordstown in Ohio, and an unnamed location in the Midwest, in addition to OpenAI’s existing facility in Abilene, Texas. The project will require up to 10 gigawatts of power—enough to meet the electricity needs of a major urban center like New York City, which uses about six gigawatts. OpenAI’s initial phase is projected to cost $400 billion and consume seven gigawatts of energy. However, CEO Sam Altman has stated the long-term vision includes scaling to 10 gigawatts of compute capacity, driving the total investment to $500 billion. This ambitious buildout underscores the soaring infrastructure demands of the AI boom. OpenAI has already secured agreements worth $1 trillion in 2025 alone, primarily for power and data center construction. Major tech companies like Meta and Microsoft are also significantly increasing capital expenditures to support their AI ambitions. The scale of energy consumption raises growing concerns. Research from the RAND Corporation suggests that global data center power demand could rise to 68 gigawatts by 2027 and surge to 327 gigawatts by 2030—more than five times the current U.S. data center load. This rapid expansion highlights the urgent need for sustainable energy solutions, grid upgrades, and policy coordination to support the AI-driven future.