According to a media source on Friday, Microsoft and OpenAI are preparing a data center project worth up to $100 billion, which will contain an artificial intelligence supercomputer called “Stargate.”
The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters‘ inquiries for comment.
According to those participating in secret discussions about the concept, Microsoft would most likely be in charge of financing the project, which would be 100 times more expensive than some of the largest existing data centers.
According to the story, OpenAI’s next big AI upgrade is slated to arrive early next year, and Microsoft executives plan to debut Stargate as soon as 2028.
The proposed US-based supercomputer would be the largest among a series of sites the companies are looking to build over the next six years, the report added.
According to The Information, the $100 billion estimate was based on conversations with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and viewing some of Microsoft’s earliest cost projections. It did not name the sources.
Altman and Microsoft staff have divided supercomputers into five phases, with Stargate being the fifth. According to the article, Microsoft is developing a smaller, fourth-phase supercomputer for OpenAI, which it plans to launch around 2026.
According to the source, Microsoft and OpenAI are currently in the third phase of the five-phase plan, with much of the cost of the following two stages comprising the procurement of the necessary AI processors.
“We are always planning for the next generation of infrastructure innovations needed to continue pushing the frontier of AI capability,” Frank Shaw, a Microsoft spokesperson, said in a statement to the publication.
The suggested measures might cost more than $115 billion, or more than three times what Microsoft spent last year on capital expenditures for servers, buildings, and other equipment, the report stated.
