SoftBank Group and OpenAI are investing a combined $1 billion in SB Energy to expand the company’s role as a development and execution partner for large-scale U.S. data center campuses and related energy infrastructure, the companies said Friday.
Under the deal, OpenAI and SoftBank will each invest $500 million into SB Energy. OpenAI also signed a 1.2-gigawatt data center lease tied to its initial buildout and selected SB Energy to build and operate its previously announced 1.2 GW data center site in Milam County, Texas.
The partnership is positioned as part of Stargate, a broader initiative aimed at scaling next-generation AI and energy infrastructure in the United States. SB Energy said the new equity funding will support its expansion as demand for AI compute grows, with multiple multi-gigawatt data center campuses in development and initial facilities under construction that are expected to begin entering service starting in 2026.
SB Energy will also become a major customer of OpenAI, leveraging OpenAI’s APIs and deploying ChatGPT across the company for employees, according to the announcement.
Separately, SB Energy said it secured an additional $800 million of redeemable preferred equity financing from Ares to further support growth.
As part of the transaction, OpenAI, SoftBank Group and SB Energy formed a non-exclusive preferred partnership intended to create a repeatable model for building AI data centers that combines OpenAI’s first-party data center design approach with SB Energy’s development, execution and integrated energy delivery capabilities.
The Milam County project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs. The companies said the site is being designed to minimize water usage and will include plans to add new generation resources to meet energy needs while protecting Texas ratepayers.
KEY QUOTES:
“Partnering with SB Energy brings together their strength in data center infrastructure and energy development and OpenAI’s deep domain expertise in data center engineering. The result is a fast, reliable way to scale compute through large, highly optimized AI data centers.”
Greg Brockman, Co-Founder and President, OpenAI
“SB Energy’s strategic partnership with OpenAI accelerates our delivery of advanced AI data center campuses and associated energy infrastructure at the scale required to advance Stargate and secure America’s AI future. We are grateful for our longstanding sponsor SoftBank Group and new partner OpenAI for their investment in our platform, our team, and our long-term vision.”
Rich Hossfeld, Co-CEO, SB Energy
