SoftBank subsidiary SB Energy has partnered with OpenAI to build and operate the previously announced 1.2 GW Stargate data center in Milam County, Texas.

SB Energy will provide the project's powered infrastructure, while SoftBank and OpenAI will invest $1 billion in the company to support its growth, with each committing $500 million.

“Partnering with SB Energy brings together their strength in data center infrastructure and energy development, and OpenAI’s deep domain expertise in data center engineering. The result is a fast, reliable way to scale compute through large, highly optimized AI data centers,” said OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman.

According to the companies, the equity financing will support SB Energy’s growth and development pipeline. SB Energy plans to supply power to data centers in Texas, with a trio of projects announced in 2024 set to support Google’s facilities.

In addition, the companies have also formed a non-exclusive preferred partnership to develop a new model for data center builds. The model will combine OpenAI’s first-party data center design with SB Energy’s integrated energy delivery to construct purpose-built AI data centers.

“SB Energy’s strategic partnership with OpenAI accelerates our delivery of advanced AI data center campuses and associated energy infrastructure at the scale required to advance Stargate and secure America’s AI future. We are grateful for our longstanding sponsor SoftBank Group and new partner OpenAI for their investment in our platform, our team, and our long-term vision,” said SB Energy co-CEO Rich Hossfeld.

Stargate was launched by OpenAI last January, in partnership with SoftBank, Oracle, and Abu Dhabi's MGX. At the time, it claimed it would invest $500bn in digital infrastructure over the next four years to serve OpenAI's compute needs.

Since then, the companies have announced several high-profile projects across the world. In September, it announced plans to build five data centers across Texas, New Mexico, and the Midwest, with a combined capacity of up to 5.5GW.

SB Energy was founded as a subsidiary of SoftBank in 2011, with a separate global entity, SB Energy Global, founded in 2015 to develop projects outside of the Japanese market. The company predominantly develops solar and battery storage projects.

Last January, it was reported that it would supply solar and batteries as part of the energy solution for Stargate’s first data center campus in Abilene, Texas.