OpenAI, Sur Energy weigh $25 billion Argentina data center project

OpenAI and Sur Energy have signed a letter of intent for a data center project in Argentina requiring an investment of up to $25 billion, the South American nation's government said on Friday.

The project would involve a large-scale facility with a capacity of up to 500 megawatts to support advanced artificial intelligence computing, according to a government statement. Structured under Argentina's RIGI tax break scheme which went into effect last year, the project, if completed, would be "one of the largest technology and energy infrastructure initiatives," in the country's history, the statement said.

OpenAI, which now has more than 800 million weekly ChatGPT users, became the world's most valuable startup, with a $500 billion valuation, after completing a secondary share sale last week.


"We are proud to announce plans to launch Stargate Argentina, an exciting new infrastructure project in partnership with one of the country's leading energy companies, Sur Energy," OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said on social media.

Altman added that it was the first Stargate project in Latin America, a region "full of talent, creativity and ambition."

Earlier this week OpenAI had touted new partnerships at its developer conference, revealing a flurry of collaborations with companies including Spotify Zillow and Mattel while debuting a set of fresh tools to help developers build new applications.