“Microsoft, OpenAI Plan $100 Billion Data-Center Project, Media Report Says”, 2024-03-29 (; backlinks):
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. The Stargate 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.
The executives have discussed launching Stargate as soon as 2028 and expanding it through 2030, possibly needing as much as 5 gigawatts of power by the end, the people involved in the discussions said.
OpenAI’s next major AI upgrade is expected to land by early next year.
…The Information reported that Microsoft would likely be responsible for financing the project, which would be 100× more costly than some of the biggest current data centers, citing people involved in private conversations about the proposal.
OpenAI’s next major AI upgrade is expected to land by early next year, the report said, adding that Microsoft executives are looking to launch Stargate as soon as 2028.
The proposed U.S.-based supercomputer would be the biggest in a series of installations the companies are looking to build over the next 6 years, the report added.
The Information attributed the tentative cost of $100 billion 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. It did not identify those sources.
Altman and Microsoft employees have spread supercomputers across 5 phases, with Stargate as the fifth phase. Microsoft is working on a smaller, 4th-phase supercomputer for OpenAI that it aims to launch around 2026, according to the report.
Microsoft and OpenAI are in the middle of the third phase of the 5-phase plan, with much of the cost of the next two phases involving procuring the AI chips that are needed, the report said…The proposed efforts could cost in excess of $115 billion, more than 3× what Microsoft spent last year on capital expenditures for servers, buildings and other equipment, the report stated.