LORDSTOWN, Ohio – The former Foxconn manufacturing plant here is likely to open next year as a new artificial intelligence data center as part of the $500 billion Stargate project, parties said late Tuesday.
OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank Group Corp. announced Tuesday that they have identified five new sites across the United States, including Lordstown, to support the Stargate initiative, principals said in a news release.
“One site is located in Lordstown, Ohio, where SoftBank has broken ground on an advanced data center design which is on track to be operational next year,” the release said.
The Business Journal on Tuesday reported that work is already underway at the Lordstown plant to convert it into a manufacturing center to support the Stargate project. In early August, Foxconn announced it had sold the plant and equipment to SoftBank for $375 million.
“We continue hearing encouraging news about this project, and this announcement only adds to that momentum,” Guy Coviello, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, said in a statement. “It’s another sign that we have transformed our economy, that we’re driving major investment, creating jobs and strengthening the Valley’s position in the global marketplace.”
Coviello added that the region continues to press its new development efforts to boost the regional economy.
“We pledge to keep working hard on our strategic initiatives – growing talent, population and housing – so that Foxconn, SoftBank and all other companies associated with Stargate can be successful in the Mahoning Valley.”
The five new sites were chosen through a rigorous nationwide process launched in January, the group said in a statement. OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank reviewed more than 300 proposals from more than 30 states. Tuesday’s announcement marks the first set of selections, with additional U.S. sites to come as the companies complete and surpass their initial commitment to invest $500 billion in U.S. AI infrastructure.
The Lordstown site, together with a second site in Milam County, Texas, are together able to scale to 1.5 gigawatts over the next 18 months, company officials said, and will be developed through a partnership by SoftBank and OpenAI that can scale to multiple gigawatts of AI infrastructure.
Other sites include two in Texas, one in New Mexico and another in the Midwest, which has yet to be announced.
Three of these sites – located in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and the Midwest site, combined with an additional potential expansion of 600 megawatts near the flagship Stargate site in Abilene, Texas – can deliver over 5.5 gigawatts of capacity. Together, these sites are expected to create more than 25,000 onsite jobs and tens of thousands of additional jobs across the U.S. The project is in the process of evaluating additional sites.
The combined capacity from these five new sites – along with the flagship site and ongoing projects with CoreWeave – brings Stargate to nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity and more than $400 billion in investment over the next three years. This puts the companies on a path to securing the full $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment announced in January by the end of 2025, ahead of schedule.
In July, OpenAI and Oracle entered into an agreement to develop up to 4.5 gigawatts of additional Stargate capacity. This represents a partnership that exceeds $300 billion between the two companies over the next five years.
“We’re already making historic progress toward that goal through Stargate and moving quickly not just to meet its initial commitment, but to lay the foundation for what comes next,” said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI.
Clay Magouryk, CEO of Oracle, added: “Oracle’s reliable, scalable and secure AI infrastructure is helping OpenAI rapidly scale its business. To meet this enormous demand, we continue to expand OCI’s footprint at an unrivaled pace to deliver the most performant and cost-effective AI training and inferencing.”
OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank first announced the $500 billion Stargate commitment in January at the White House alongside President Donald Trump as part of a broader push to spur investment in American AI infrastructure.
“Together with OpenAI, Arm and our Stargate partners, we are paving the way for a new era where AI advances humanity,” said Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp.