# Stargate Project Timeline The [[Stargate Project]] is the largest single AI infrastructure commitment in history — up to $500 billion over four years to build a network of gigawatt-scale data centers across the United States and, increasingly, the world. Announced on [[Donald Trump]]'s first full day in office by [[SoftBank]] (financial partner), [[OpenAI]] (technology partner), and [[Oracle Corporation]] (infrastructure partner), it is simultaneously an engineering megaproject, a political instrument, and the clearest expression of the thesis that AI dominance is industrial policy — just without conservatives having to call it that. The timeline tracks three intertwined stories. First, the physical buildout: from a single Abilene campus to a planned 10 GW network spanning Texas, Ohio, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Michigan, and half a dozen countries. Second, the political economy: how a joint venture structured as deregulation-plus-access became the Trump administration's flagship technology initiative, rewarding companies that aligned early and punishing those — like [[Anthropic]] — that refused the terms. Third, the energy story: AI's appetite for power is reshaping the American grid, creating a de facto alliance between Silicon Valley and fossil fuel/nuclear interests documented in [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]]. Sister timelines: [[OpenAI Timeline]], [[Defense Tech Timeline]]. --- ## Era 1 — Origins and Announcement (2024 – January 2025) - **Mid-2024** — Construction begins at the Abilene, Texas site well before any public announcement. [[OpenAI]] and [[Oracle Corporation]] had been quietly building data center infrastructure; the Abilene campus is already under development by July 2024. The project that will become Stargate exists as an engineering reality before it becomes a political event. - **January 21, 2025** — **White House announcement of the [[Stargate Project]]** — Trump's first full day in office. Up to $500 billion over four years in AI infrastructure. Partners: [[SoftBank]] (lead investor/financial), [[OpenAI]] (technology), [[Oracle Corporation]] (infrastructure). Initial backers include MGX (Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund) and [[Arm Holdings]]. $100 billion already deployed or committed. First site: Abilene, Texas. Trump, [[Masayoshi Son]], [[Sam Altman]], and [[Larry Ellison]] all present at the White House for the announcement — framing AI infrastructure as a presidential initiative and a national competitiveness project. - **RWKB angle:** The staging is the substance. Announcing a half-trillion-dollar investment on Day One frames Trump as the AI president and positions the U.S. AI industry as explicitly aligned with the new administration — a deliberate contrast to the Biden-era regulatory approach (the October 2023 AI executive order, which Trump revoked). This is [[Techno-Optimism]] as governing philosophy: the government provides permitting, regulatory accommodation, and political cover; the private sector provides capital. Conservative economic orthodoxy traditionally opposes industrial policy — Stargate is industrial policy rebranded as "unleashing the private sector." - **January 22, 2025** — [[Elon Musk]] publicly attacks the project on X: "They don't actually have the money. SoftBank has well under $10B secured." Calls [[Sam Altman]] a "swindler." The criticism reflects both legitimate financial skepticism — [[SoftBank]]'s history of ambitious investment announcements that scale back (the original $100B Vision Fund era) — and the personal Musk-Altman rivalry that runs through the entire [[OpenAI]] story. - **RWKB angle:** Musk's attack is self-interested (he runs [[xAI]], a direct competitor) but not wrong on the substance. The $500B headline number is an aspirational ceiling, not a committed figure. The tension between Stargate's political optics and its financial reality will recur throughout this timeline. - **January 31, 2025** — [[OpenAI]] publishes requests for proposal (RFP) for land and power, and requests for qualifications (RFQ) for architecture and engineering firms — the first public procurement signals that the buildout is moving beyond the Abilene site. --- ## Era 2 — Construction and Early Scaling (2025) - **March 2025** — Crusoe begins Phase 2 construction at the Abilene campus — six additional buildings to bring the flagship site to a total of eight buildings, approximately 4 million square feet, and 1.2 GW of capacity. The campus is developed on [[Oracle Corporation]]'s cloud infrastructure (OCI). Crusoe secures $11.6 billion in debt and equity to finance the buildout — a staggering sum for a company that pivoted from Bitcoin mining flare gas to AI infrastructure in under three years. Phase 2 is expected to be energized by mid-2026. - **May 7, 2025** — [[OpenAI]] launches **"OpenAI for Countries"** — a program to partner with national governments to build sovereign AI infrastructure rooted in what [[OpenAI]] calls "democratic values, open markets, and trusted partnerships." The initiative targets 10 global Stargate partnerships in its initial phase, with each focused on localized AI tools, sovereign data center infrastructure, and co-funded innovation ecosystems. - **RWKB angle:** "OpenAI for Countries" is the global expansion of the Stargate model: governments provide regulatory accommodation and political cover, [[OpenAI]] provides the technology, and local partners provide capital and energy. The "democratic values" framing is strategic — it positions the U.S. AI stack as the alternative to Chinese infrastructure exports while locking participating nations into [[OpenAI]]'s ecosystem. - **May 26, 2025** — **Stargate UAE announced** — a 1 GW data center in Abu Dhabi. Partners: [[G42]], [[Oracle Corporation]], [[NVIDIA]], Cisco, and [[SoftBank]]. First international Stargate deployment under the "OpenAI for Countries" initiative. Initial phase: 200 MW equipped with approximately 100,000 [[NVIDIA]] Grace Blackwell GB300 chips, on track to go live in 2026. Backed by up to $10 billion in investment. - **July 31, 2025** — **Stargate Norway announced** — [[OpenAI]]'s first European data center facility. Located in Kvandal, outside Narvik, northern Norway. Partners: Nscale Global Holdings and Aker ASA (50/50 equity joint venture). [[OpenAI]] is the anchor tenant. 230 MW initial capacity with ambitions to expand by an additional 290 MW — positioning it among the largest AI infrastructure investments in Europe. 100,000 [[NVIDIA]] GPUs planned by end-2026. Powered entirely by local hydropower with closed-loop, direct-to-chip liquid cooling; waste heat available for district heating. Both partners commit approximately $1 billion to the initial phase, including upwards of $250 million in equity. - **July 2025** — [[Sam Altman]] announces at a [[SoftBank]] event that the partnership aims for 10 GW of data centers. [[OpenAI]] and [[Oracle Corporation]] announce additional 4.5 GW of capacity — pushing total planned Stargate infrastructure past 5 GW. - **September 2025** — **Stargate UK announced** — a distributed infrastructure buildout across England, with initial plans for up to 8,000 GPUs scaling to 31,000 through a partnership with Nscale and [[NVIDIA]]. Cobalt Park in England's North East, within a newly designated AI Growth Zone, is among the planned locations. The UK project is presented as a flagship international deployment — but will be paused within seven months (see Era 3). - **September 2025** — Internal tensions surface. [[OpenAI]], [[Oracle Corporation]], and [[SoftBank]] clash in a three-way tug of war over control. [[OpenAI]] initially wants to build and own the data centers itself. [[SoftBank]] wants its subsidiary SB Energy to develop and own the project. Altman and [[Masayoshi Son]] make multiple trips to Japan in September and October to hash out the disagreement. Reports circulate of potential scale-backs. - **RWKB angle:** The control clash exposes the structural tension at the heart of Stargate. [[OpenAI]] needs [[SoftBank]]'s capital but doesn't want to be a tenant in someone else's infrastructure. [[SoftBank]] is investing tens of billions but doesn't want to be a passive checkbook. The resolution — [[OpenAI]] signs long-term leases and controls facility design while SB Energy develops and owns the physical assets — is a compromise that satisfies neither party's original position. - **September 23, 2025** — **Five new U.S. Stargate sites announced.** Three Oracle-led: Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and Port Washington, Wisconsin (with Vantage Data Centers). Two SoftBank-led: Lordstown, Ohio, and Milam County, Texas. Combined with the Abilene flagship and ongoing [[CoreWeave]] projects, this brings Stargate to nearly 7 GW of planned capacity and over $400 billion in investment over three years. Expected to create 25,000+ onsite jobs. - **September 30, 2025** — **Abilene campus Phase 1 goes live on OCI.** First two buildings — 980,000 square feet, 200+ MW — begin running training and inference workloads for [[OpenAI]]. This is the first operational Stargate infrastructure. - **October 2025** — **Stargate Michigan announced** — 1 GW, $16 billion campus in Saline Township, developed by Related Digital, [[Blackstone]], and [[Oracle Corporation]]. Three buildings on 250 acres, known as "The Barn." Construction beginning early 2026, 2,500+ union construction jobs. Once fully outfitted by [[Oracle Corporation]], the complete complex is expected to reach approximately $56 billion. - **October 2025** — [[Samsung]] and [[SK Hynix]] sign letters of intent with [[OpenAI]] to supply high-bandwidth memory (HBM) semiconductors for Stargate. The two firms jointly control roughly 70% of the global DRAM market and 80% of HBM. Stargate's projected memory demand — up to 900,000 DRAM wafers per month — could consume 40% of global production by 2029. The agreements also include plans for two small data centers in South Korea (20 MW initial capacity), dubbed a "Korean-style Stargate." - **RWKB angle:** The HBM supply deals illustrate Stargate's gravitational pull on global semiconductor supply chains. When a single project can consume 40% of global DRAM output, it becomes a chokepoint — and a geopolitical lever. South Korea's semiconductor dominance gives it a seat at the table that raw compute demand alone would not. - **October 2025** — **Stargate Wisconsin** — [[Oracle Corporation]] and Vantage Data Centers announce the Lighthouse campus in Port Washington, outside Milwaukee. Four data centers, close to 1 GW capacity, $15 billion investment including $175 million in local water and power facility upgrades. 4,000+ skilled construction jobs (mostly union), 1,000+ long-term permanent jobs. Groundbreaking follows in December 2025. Scheduled for completion in 2028. - **Late 2025** — **OpenAI-SoftBank compromise reached.** [[OpenAI]] signs long-term leases and retains control over facility design. [[SoftBank]]'s subsidiary SB Energy develops and owns the physical assets. The compromise resolves months of internal friction but establishes a landlord-tenant dynamic that will continue to generate tension. - **December 2025** — [[OpenAI]] hires former British Chancellor George Osborne to lead the global arm of Stargate as Managing Director and Head of "OpenAI for Countries" — part of a pattern of tech companies recruiting senior politicians as influence assets. --- ## Era 3 — Global Expansion and Complications (2026) - **January 9, 2026** — [[OpenAI]] and [[SoftBank]] each invest $500 million in SB Energy — $1 billion total — to accelerate data center development. [[OpenAI]] selects SB Energy to build and operate the 1.2 GW campus in Milam County, Texas. - **February 2026** — [[OpenAI]] formally launches "OpenAI for Countries" as a branded global initiative, targeting 10 international Stargate partnerships with national governments as co-investors. Active projects: UAE, Norway, UK, Argentina, South Korea. - **April 9, 2026** — **Stargate UK paused.** [[OpenAI]] suspends its UK data center project, citing high energy costs (British industrial electricity runs roughly four times higher than in the U.S., Finland, Norway, and Sweden) and unresolved regulatory questions around AI and copyright. The project — originally unveiled just seven months earlier with plans for up to 31,000 GPUs — is put on indefinite hold. Reports surface that [[OpenAI]] never visited a key site earmarked for the project before it was announced, deepening questions about whether the UK government's flagship AI infrastructure programme was built on press releases rather than due diligence. - **RWKB angle:** The UK pause is the first concrete evidence that the "OpenAI for Countries" model has limits. The Stargate framework — build fast, energy-cheap, regulation-light — works in Texas and the UAE. It doesn't work in countries with expensive power and functioning copyright law. The revelation that [[OpenAI]] never visited the site suggests "OpenAI for Countries" may be, in part, a press-release program. - **April 27, 2026** — **[[Microsoft]]-[[OpenAI]] agreement revised.** Exclusivity removed — [[OpenAI]] can now distribute models across any cloud provider. [[Microsoft]] retains a license to [[OpenAI]] IP through 2032 and revenue share through 2030, but the monopoly lock-in is loosened. This directly affects Stargate: [[OpenAI]] is no longer contractually bound to Azure and can build its own infrastructure without constraint. - **May 2025 / mid-2026 update** — **Stargate Argentina** announced. A joint venture between [[OpenAI]] and Sur Energy for a 500 MW campus in Patagonia, leveraging abundant wind energy and naturally cool ambient temperatures. Estimated investment: up to $25 billion. First 100 MW phase planned for 2027. However, by mid-2026 the project has not been formally presented to the Argentine government — raising questions about whether it exists beyond a letter of intent signed in October 2025. - **June 1, 2026** — **Stargate Michigan groundbreaking.** Related Digital, [[Blackstone]], [[Oracle Corporation]], [[OpenAI]], Walbridge, and Michigan Governor [[Gretchen Whitmer]] hold a launch ceremony for "The Barn" in Saline Township. [[Sam Altman]] calls the campus a "huge bet" on the future of AI. Full complex expected to reach 1 GW and $56 billion when complete at end of 2027, with operations starting early 2028. Community commitments include $10 million for the Saline Recreation Center and $14 million for local fire services and farmland preservation. - **Mid-2026** — **Abilene construction delays.** Buildings 3–4 of the flagship campus are behind the original March 2026 completion target. Approximately 4 of 8 buildings are operational. 0.3 GW live out of 1.2 GW planned. Over 6,400 construction workers remain on site. The delays underscore the gap between Stargate's announcement velocity and its construction reality. - **July 13, 2026** — QTS Data Centers and [[Lancium]] announce a data center campus in Hall County, Texas — up to 11 buildings across 465 acres near Turkey, Texas. $10 billion+ capital investment, 1 GW grid connection. Up to 7,000 construction jobs at peak. - **July 15, 2026** — Crusoe and [[Lancium]] announce a 1.0 GW data center campus near Childress, Texas — 270 acres, solar power, construction beginning Q3 2026. - **RWKB angle:** [[Lancium]]'s emergence as a major Stargate-adjacent infrastructure player is a microcosm of the energy-AI convergence. The company pivoted from Bitcoin mining to AI data centers — the same power-hungry, rural-sited, grid-straining infrastructure, repurposed for a more politically palatable customer. [[Lancium]]'s three Texas campuses (Abilene, Childress, Hall County) collectively represent 3+ GW of capacity. The Bitcoin-to-AI pivot is the energy story in miniature. - **July 19, 2026** — Tech Times reports [[Lancium]] activated two Texas gigawatt campuses in one week — headline: "Approved Grid Beats Metro." The framing captures the Stargate site-selection thesis: build where the grid connections are already approved, not where the people are. - **August 7, 2026** — The Information reports [[NVIDIA]] investing up to $3 billion in [[Lancium]] — $2 billion initial for an approximately 20% stake, $1 billion conditional. See [[NVIDIA-Lancium 3B Investment]]. The investment signals that [[NVIDIA]] is moving downstream from chip sales into the physical infrastructure layer — a vertical integration play with direct Stargate implications. --- ## Current State of Play (August 2026) The Stargate network as of August 2026: 0.3 GW operational (Abilene Phase 1), approximately 7 GW in active planning/construction across 7+ U.S. sites, with a stated goal of 10 GW by 2029. International projects in various stages: UAE (200 MW on track for 2026), Norway (230 MW under construction), UK (paused), Argentina (letter of intent only), South Korea (20 MW planned). Total announced investment exceeds $400 billion against the $500 billion headline commitment. --- ## RWKB Significance — Why This Matters The [[Stargate Project]] is essential KB infrastructure for five reasons: **1. Industrial policy without saying so.** Stargate is functionally a public-private partnership — the government provides permitting, regulatory accommodation, and political cover; the private sector provides capital. This is industrial policy, which conservative economic orthodoxy traditionally opposes, rebranded as "unleashing the private sector." The Trump administration's AI strategy is to attract big-tech capital through deregulation and political access, concentrate buildout in red and purple states, and frame AI development as an American competitiveness imperative rather than a regulatory challenge. **2. The energy-AI convergence.** Stargate's buildout is inseparable from the energy infrastructure expansion tracked in [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]]. AI data centers are enormously energy-intensive — the Abilene campus alone demands 1.2 GW, enough to power a mid-sized city. This creates a de facto alliance between the AI industry and fossil fuel/nuclear energy interests. [[Lancium]]'s Bitcoin-to-AI pivot, [[NVIDIA]]'s infrastructure investments, and the choice of rural Texas sites with existing grid connections all illustrate how AI's appetite for power is reshaping the American energy landscape. **3. The access economy.** The partner list is a map of which tech leaders chose early alignment with the Trump administration — and who was conspicuously absent. [[Anthropic]] refused to allow its models to be used for autonomous weapons and was subsequently excluded from the Pentagon's classified AI deals and, by extension, from the Stargate ecosystem. The message is clear: political access requires political compliance. See [[Defense Tech Conflicts of Interest]]. **4. Announcement velocity vs. construction reality.** Stargate's political power comes from announcements — $500 billion, 10 GW, five new sites, ten countries. Its engineering reality is slower: 0.3 GW operational after 18 months, Abilene buildings behind schedule, the UK project paused after [[OpenAI]] never visited the site, Argentina stuck at a letter of intent. The gap between the press-release cadence and the construction cadence is itself a story about how AI infrastructure serves as political theater. **5. Global competition framing.** The "OpenAI for Countries" program deploys the same national-security logic that prevents domestic AI regulation: if the U.S. doesn't build it, China will. Stargate UAE, with its Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth backing, illustrates the tension — the U.S. is simultaneously competing with and partnering with Gulf states whose AI ambitions may not align with the "democratic values" framework [[OpenAI]] promotes. --- ## See Also - [[Stargate Project]] — Company profile - [[OpenAI]] — Technology partner - [[OpenAI Timeline]] - [[SoftBank]] — Financial partner - [[Oracle Corporation]] — Infrastructure partner - [[NVIDIA]] — Chip supplier and downstream investor - [[Lancium]] — Major Stargate-adjacent infrastructure developer - [[NVIDIA-Lancium 3B Investment]] - [[The Quest for 90 Gigawatts]] — The energy infrastructure context - [[Anthropic]] — The company that wasn't invited - [[Microsoft]] — Former exclusive partner - [[Donald Trump]] - [[Sam Altman]] - [[Masayoshi Son]] - [[Larry Ellison]] - [[Elon Musk]] - [[Defense Tech Timeline]] - [[Defense Tech Conflicts of Interest]] - [[Artificial Intelligence]]