Microsoft and OpenAI Plot $100 Billion Stargate AI Supercomputer

Executives at Microsoft and OpenAI have been drawing up plans for a data center project that would contain a supercomputer with millions of specialized server chips to power OpenAI’s artificial intelligence, according to three people who have been involved in the private conversations about the proposal. The project could cost as much as $100 billion, according to a person who spoke to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about it and a person who has viewed some of Microsoft’s initial cost estimates.

Microsoft would likely be responsible for financing the project, which would be 100 times more costly than some of today’s biggest data centers, demonstrating the enormous investment that may be needed to build computing capacity for AI in the coming years. Executives envisage the proposed U.S.-based supercomputer, which they have referred to as “Stargate,” as the biggest of a series of installations the companies are looking to build over the next six years.