OpenAI intends to build its own data centers in the US as part of a plan to reach one billion users and further commercialize its technology.

Chris Lehane, the AI lab’s policy chief, said the company will build digital infrastructure to train and run its systems.

In an interview with the FT, Lehane said “chips, data and energy” will be the crucial factors in helping his company win the AI race and achieve its stated goal of developing advanced general intelligence (AGI), AI which can match or surpass the capability of the human brain.

Lehane said the company would build clusters of data centers in the US mid west and south west, but did not going into further detail about the plan. DCD has contacted the company to ask for more information on its data center buildout.

If confirmed, the move to build data centers would be part of an increasingly commercial focus at OpenAI, which started life as a non-profit but is now moving away from its roots towards a more standard, for-profit, corporate structure.

The FT also reported that it has hired its first financial and product leader, and is considering how it can introduce advertising into its products, though OpenAI has since denied it has active plans to roll out ads.

When it comes to digital infrastructure, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI, which raised $6.6 billion earlier this year, has been reliant on Microsoft Azure data centers since it received a multi-billion dollar investment from the tech giant in 2023.

Recently it has started to look beyond Microsoft, and in June announced a partnership with Oracle that will see Oracle Cloud Infrastructure used to train OpenAI models. In October, it was reported OpenAI is also looking to other providers as its requirements for compute power outstrip what Microsoft can supply.

OpenAI has apparently been exploring the possibility of 5GW data centers, and earlier this year was said to be working with Microsoft on plans for an enormous campus dubbed Stargate.