The competition in the development of elite artificial intelligence infrastructure just got a significant impetus. OpenAI and SoftBank have injected a collective investment of $1 billion into SB Energy, contributing equally with a sum of $500 million each.
This major development takes a long way in achieving their ambitious “Stargate” project, which seeks to revolutionize America’s AI potential through unprecedented investment in infrastructure.
SB Energy, a SoftBank Group subsidiary that has been in business since 2019, will employ this new investment to further develop its presence in the burgeoning AI datacenter market.
The firm’s specialty is the design and operation of the types of scaled facilities that drive the world’s most intense AI models and this move puts it firmly at the forefront of the infrastructure race that is gripping the technology sector.
OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle’s Stargate Initiative
This billion-dollar investment contributes to Stargate, which has gained fame as a $500 billion project that was launched at the White House in January 2025.
This initiative involves a partnership between OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle in a move that marks a massive investment in tech infrastructure. Within the next four years, they aim to cover the United States with next-generation AI data centers.
OpenAI’s commitment extends even further. It has pledged a massive $1.4 trillion over eight years, and this indicates just how committed it is to creating infrastructure in the area of computing in order to make further breakthroughs in AI advancements in the future.
It’s not talking increments here; we’re discussing multi-gigawatt-scale data centers, which would be larger in size compared to what exists in the market now.
The first fruits of this collaboration are likely to materialize soon. The initial facilities are programmed to go live in 2026, with SB Energy driving the construction and operation.
1.2 Gigawatts for GPT, The Rise of the SB Energy Data Center
The impact of this coalition can be witnessed in the form of an actual project being developed in Texas.
The task of developing and running an enormous 1.2 gigawatt data center for OpenAI will be handled by SB Energy, and this was announced as far back as September 2025. To give an idea of its size, one gigawatt can supply power to 750,000 households.
The new facility in Texas brings together specialized data center design from OpenAI with SB Energy’s experience in energy development and energy management.
This goes a long way in resolving a challenge associated with AI infrastructure, which has become a bottleneck due to the immense power it requires.
However, SB Energy has not been idle, waiting for this investment. The company has actually acquired a company named Studio 151. This acquisition allows them to have the ability to develop data centers as well as operate them.
This means that the development process for data centers for SB Energy will be faster.
The firm also sourced $800M in redeemable preferred equity funding from Ares in 2025; this indicates that other than OpenAI and SoftBank, other investors also believe in the viability of this business model.
SB Energy has offices in Redwood City, San Francisco, and Denver. The firm is involved in combining solar power, wind power, and battery storage business with that of data centers.
“The fit with OpenAI is a natural one,” said Greg Brockman, the president of OpenAI, in highlighting the complementary fit between the two companies.
He highlighted the intersection of data center engineering capabilities and energy development as an important area in developing scalable computer architecture for “AI systems with capabilities beyond needs that require significant computing power to use them in more realistic settings.
How OpenAI and SoftBank are Redefining AI Infrastructure
At this event, co-CEOs of SB Energy Rich Hossfeld and Abhijeet Sathe pointed out other positive impacts that go beyond the capabilities in AI. For instance, job generation is another aspect that is anticipated to involve a large number of people in construction jobs.
Moreover, investments in such programs as grid modernization within the surrounding community will also take place. Environmental aspects and water conservation in power generation sites remain a priority.
This collaboration is indicative of wider industry trends. Tech firms are now realizing that just lining up to connect to the grid won’t suffice if they hope to remain competitive in the AI space. Through this development of their energy infrastructure, companies can avoid the infamous grid queues, which often take years.
OpenAI and SoftBank have significantly tightened their ties recently, with SoftBank spearheading a funding round of $40 billion in OpenAI in 2025. Others in the tech industry are following similar lines, with Meta considering nuclear power investments to fuel its plans for artificial intelligence.
With more advanced and power-hungry AI models on the horizon, a competitive advantage is likely to go to those who manage to solve the infrastructure puzzle first. With this $1 billion investment, OpenAI and SoftBank clearly signal that they would like to be one of these players.
