By Aisha Down,Robert Booth,Dan Milmo
Publication Date: 2026-03-14 06:00:00
Stargate was intended to be the world’s largest AI investment: a $500 billion infrastructure project to “ensure American leadership in AI.” Its main backer, ChatGPT maker OpenAI, wasn’t afraid of hyperbole, promising “tremendous economic benefits for the entire world” with facilities designed to help people “use AI to improve humanity.”
Now OpenAI appears to be pulling out of one part of the deal — the expansion of a flagship data center spanning a tract of land in Abilene, Texas, which has become one of the most visible expressions of a flurry of investment in the chips and power plants needed to build and operate AI. Negotiations over project financing and the timetable for when the expanded capacities could go into operation have failed.
That may be fine for OpenAI; It can probably find other data centers. Things are looking less good for OpenAI’s project partner Oracle, which has already spent billions on hardware for the website. It is one of several cracks that occur…
