Lordstown part of mammoth $500 billion artificial intelligence data center project

LORDSTOWN, Ohio - An artificial intelligence research and development company, and its partners, have announced that they plan to complete construction next year of five new AI data centers across the country, including one in Lordstown.

OpenAI issued a media release on Tuesday outlining plans to transform the former General Motors assembly plant into a hub for AI infrastructure as part of a $500 billion national project.

Lordstown and the four other sites are part of the Stargate Project, a network of data centers being developed through a partnership between OpenAI and SoftBank.

The Lordstown data center is one of two new sites that can scale to 1.5 gigawatts over the next 18 months, with the other located in Milam County, Texas. OpenAI and its partners, which include Oracle, are building the sites to increase the availability of high-performance computing.

A gigawatt is one billion watts—a unit of power that measures the massive amount of electricity the facility will consume.

The enormous energy consumption is necessary to run and cool the thousands of powerful computers and servers inside the data center, which are used for tasks such as training artificial intelligence models. A single gigawatt can power hundreds of thousands of homes.

The three other newly announced sites—located in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and another yet-to-be announced location- are in addition to an expansion near the flagship Stargate site in Abilene, Texas.

The Stargate Project's total planned capacity is seven gigawatts. These data centers are essentially massive warehouses filled with computers and servers that require constant, high-level energy to operate.

SoftBank has already broken ground on an advanced data center at the former GM facility, which is on track to be operational next year.

The site, located in Trumbull County, was sold for $375 million to Crescent Dune LLC, a new owner that will modernize the six-million-square-foot facility.

Taiwan-based electronics giant Foxconn, which purchased the plant in 2022, will continue to operate within the facility alongside the Stargate partners, according to documents filed with the Trumbull County Recorder's Office.

Shimizu North America LLC, a subsidiary of Japan-based Shimizu Corp., was contracted in July for work inside the plant.

The Stargate Project began in January, with OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank reviewing more than 300 proposals from over 30 states. The total investment across all Stargate sites is projected to exceed $400 billion over the next three years.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement that building the necessary computing power is key to unlocking future AI breakthroughs.

"That compute is the key to ensuring everyone can benefit from AI and to unlocking future breakthroughs," Altman said.

The companies aim to meet their initial goal of a 10-gigawatt capacity and a $500 billion commitment by the end of 2025.

“Stargate is harnessing SoftBank’s innovative data center design and energy expertise to deliver the scalable compute that powers AI’s future,” said Masayoshi Son, Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. “Together with OpenAI, Arm, and our Stargate partners, we are paving the way for a new era where AI advances humanity.”