Microsoft is picking up a Texas data center project OpenAI didn't want, in a telling sign of how far they've drifted apart

Microsoft is significantly expanding its artificial intelligence infrastructure by taking over a data center construction project in Abilene, Texas, originally declined by OpenAI. This development, announced by data center developer Crusoe, will see Microsoft build two new "AI factory" buildings and a 900-megawatt on-site power plant. This new expansion will bring the total number of data center buildings at the site to ten, providing an estimated 2.1 gigawatts of computing capacity. The project is situated next to a larger computing campus Crusoe has been building for OpenAI and Oracle, which currently includes two completed buildings and six more expected by year-end. This existing campus, dubbed the flagship "Stargate" initiative, was initially announced by former President Donald Trump. OpenAI's head of compute infrastructure, Sachin Katti, confirmed earlier this month that the company chose not to expand its Abilene project further, opting for additional capacity at other sites across the United States, including one with Oracle in Wisconsin. Crusoe co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller emphasized the importance of the new 900-megawatt power plant for Microsoft's project in building "the industrial foundation for American AI." This new plant will be significantly larger than the existing 350-megawatt gas-fired power plant serving the OpenAI and Oracle facilities, which primarily draw from the regional electricity grid. The intense power demands of AI data centers and their reliance on gas-fired plants raise concerns about greenhouse gas emissions, a point acknowledged by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman during a previous visit to Abilene, where he expressed a long-term hope for more diverse power sources for Stargate.