OpenAI's Largest Data Center Secures $11.6bn Funding
Crusoe, a startup that is currently shifting from focusing on crypto to AI infrastructure, just locked in $11.6 billion in new funding to expand a Texas data center it’s building for OpenAI. The site in Abilene was originally going to be two buildings, but will now grow to eight, with each containing up to 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips. This brings the total funding for the project to $15 billion, with backing from firms like Blue Owl Capital.
The facility is a huge step for OpenAI as it works to ease its reliance on Microsoft and scale up its AI capabilities. While Microsoft had been the company’s go-to for computing power, OpenAI reportedly grew frustrated with its capacity limits. That led to a deal last year with Oracle, who will lease the Abilene center for 15 years and provide Nvidia chips, while OpenAI rents servers. Crusoe started construction last June.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who recently visited the site, called it “the biggest AI training facility in the world.” The Abilene center is also part of a larger $500 billion vision known as Stargate, with OpenAI aiming to build its own data center network nationwide.
