OpenAI and SoftBank announce $1 billion investment in SB Energy as part of massive AI buildout

OpenAI and SoftBank

announced plans to invest $1 billion in SB Energy as part of a strategic partnership that will support OpenAI’s artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout.

The partnership is part of the $500 billion Stargate commitment that OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle

announced last January at the White House, according to a Friday release. As part of the agreement, SB Energy will build and operate OpenAI’s 1.2 gigawatt data center site in Milam County, Texas that was announced in September.

“Partnering with SB Energy brings together their strength in data center infrastructure and energy development and OpenAI’s deep domain expertise in data center engineering,” Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, said in a statement on Friday. ”The result is a fast, reliable way to scale compute through large, highly optimized AI data centers.”