Stargate Data Center Expansion Talks Fail, Meta Considers Taking Over Abilene Site in US

The first data center site of the Stargate project in Abilene, Texas, US, has hit a snag in its expansion plan. Originally intended to grow from 1.2GW to 2GW, OpenAI and Oracle failed to reach an agreement with builder Crusoe. Meta is now considering moving into the site. The site operates with Crusoe building the data center, Oracle renting it to build AI cloud services, and OpenAI leasing AI cloud computing power from Oracle. The negotiation breakdown was due to issues like financing, OpenAI's changing needs, and system reliability. Nvidia played a key role in brokering talks between Crusoe and Meta: the site is equipped with Nvidia GPUs, and Nvidia didn't want other AI chips used in the second phase, so it offered Crusoe a $150 million deposit. OpenAI has shifted its new capacity to other data center parks, and no formal result has come from the new negotiations yet.