Microsoft is picking up a Texas data center project OpenAI didn't want

Microsoft is taking over a data center construction project in Abilene, Texas, after OpenAI declined to pursue further expansion there. Data center developer Crusoe said it is working with Microsoft to build two new AI factory buildings and an on-site power plant. The facilities will sit right next to the larger computing campus Crusoe has been developing for OpenAI and Oracle. OpenAI's existing project at the site is the flagship of its Stargate initiative. Microsoft was once OpenAI's exclusive cloud computing provider and still holds a roughly 27 percent stake in the company. The two firms are increasingly pursuing AI development separately even as they share the same tract of land. OpenAI said earlier this month that it dropped plans to expand its Abilene project even further. The company considered the additional capacity but chose to place it in other locations instead. It now has more than half a dozen sites under development across the United States, including one it is building with Oracle in Wisconsin. Microsoft's two new Abilene facilities will bring the total number of data center buildings at the complex to 10. The full build-out is expected to supply 2.1 gigawatts of computing capacity. A new power plant attached to the Microsoft project will generate 900 megawatts. Crusoe co-founder and CEO Chase Lochmiller said in a written statement that the plant will help continue building the industrial foundation for American AI. The existing gas-fired power plant attached to the OpenAI and Oracle project generates 350 megawatts. Developers originally planned the site for cryptocurrency mining before pivoting after the AI boom began. The AI race has been complicating tech companies' commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said while visiting Abilene last year that the company is burning gas to run this data center. He added that the long-term hope for Stargate is to rely on many other power sources.