OpenAI Shifts from Building Its Own Stargate Data Centers to Long-Term Leasing

The cash-burning OpenAI announced Stargate with Oracle and SoftBank in early 2025, pledging to invest $500 billion in U.S. AI data centers. But after more than a year of conflict and execution difficulties, it is effectively backing away from the original plan of co-owning infrastructure directly, shifting instead toward long-term leases with third-party providers and more flexible contracts.

According to Financial Times reporting, OpenAI has essentially abandoned the joint-venture structure and is expanding individual contracts with Oracle. OpenAI describes Stargate as an umbrella for its compute strategy, but partners see first-party data centers as having been pushed to the back burner.

• The UK data center project has been put on hold due to regulations and high energy costs.
• The UK's AI minister said what has actually changed is OpenAI's funding environment.
• Some partners felt let down by reversed commitments, and some projects are now being taken over by Microsoft instead.
• Officials assessed that Microsoft is viewed as more creditworthy than OpenAI as a tenant.