OpenAI and SoftBank pump $1B into SB Energy for AI data centers

OpenAI and SoftBank Group are each putting $500 million into SB Energy, a SoftBank-owned renewable energy and infrastructure company. This is part of the massive $500 billion Stargate initiative announced earlier. OpenAI is also leasing a 1.2 gigawatt data center site in Milam County, Texas, with SB Energy building and running it. The deal includes a preferred partnership to design and build AI data centers faster and cheaper, combining OpenAI’s data center engineering with SB Energy’s construction and energy delivery expertise. Additionally, SB Energy scored $800 million in redeemable preferred equity from Ares. As part of the arrangement, SB Energy will become a major OpenAI customer, using ChatGPT and APIs internally. The Milam County project alone is expected to create thousands of construction jobs and includes commitments to water conservation and workforce development. Why it matters: This isn’t just another cloud contract — it signals that absolute compute scale and vertical integration are now the defining strategies in frontier AI, with energy infrastructure becoming as critical as the models themselves.