OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for websites to develop a network of substantial data centers to power its expert system technology, broadening beyond a flagship Texas place and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate job promoted by President Donald Trump.

The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for propositions for land, electricity, engineers and architects and began checking out locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin today.

Trump promoted Stargate, a freshly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, soon after going back to the White House last month.

The collaboration said it is investing $100 billion - and eventually approximately $500 billion - to build large-scale information centers and the energy generation required to more AI development. Trump called the project a "resounding declaration of self-confidence in America ´ s possible" under his brand-new administration, though the very first task in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for bybio.co months.

Elon Musk, a Trump consultant and intense competitor of OpenAI who remains in a legal fight with the business and its CEO Sam Altman, has openly questioned the worth of Stargate's investments.

After Trump's statement, a variety of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming extra data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI's vice of worldwide affairs, informed press reporters Thursday.

The business's request for propositions requires sites with "distance to necessary facilities consisting of power and water."

AI uses vast quantities of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which triggers environment modification. Data centers also normally draw in big quantities of water for cooling. Some tech giants have begun funding nuclear power to plug into their information centers.

OpenAI's proposal makes no reference of whether it plans to prioritize sustainable energy sources such as wind or solar to power the information centers. But it says electricity service providers must have a plan to handle carbon emissions and water use.

"There ´ s some websites we ´ re looking at where we want to help be part of the process that brings brand-new power to that site, either from new gas deployment or other methods," said Keith Heyde, who directs OpenAI ´ s infrastructure technique.

The first Texas job remains in an area Abilene Mayor Weldon Hurt has actually explained to The Associated Press as rich in multiple energy sources, including wind, solar and gas. Also explaining it that method is the business that began building the AI information center school there in June - the same 2 "huge, beautiful buildings" that Altman flaunted in a current drone video posted on social media.

Crusoe CEO Chase Lochmiller said that wind power is main to the project his business is developing, though it will likewise have a gas-fired generator for backup power.

"We attempt to build data centers in areas where we can access inexpensive, clean and abundant energy resources," Lochmiller said. "West Texas actually fits that mold where it is among the most consistently windy and bright locations in the United States."

Lochmiller said he expects the Trump administration, in spite of the president's opposition to wind farms, to be practical in supporting wind-powered information centers when it is "really the most inexpensive method to gain access to energy."

Data centers consumed about 4.4% of all U.S. electrical energy in 2023 which ´ s expected to increase to 6.7% to 12% of overall U.S. electrical energy by 2028, according to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

The other states where OpenAI is actively looking consist of Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York City, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. Heyde said the business just prepares to build "somewhere in between 5 to 10" campuses in total, depending on how large each one is.

OpenAI formerly counted on business partner Microsoft for its computing needs. But the 2 companies just recently changed their collaboration to enable OpenAI to pursue information center advancement on its own.

Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to this report.

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and innovation agreement that permits OpenAI access to part of AP ´ s text archives.