The project, unveiled on Thursday, forms part of the companies’ broader “Stargate” expansion initiative—a sweeping plan to scale up computing capacity across the U.S. to meet the accelerating demands of advanced AI development.
While the companies did not disclose the total cost of the Michigan campus, industry executives estimate that a 1-GW data facility could cost around $50 billion, equivalent to the power required to serve approximately 750,000 U.S. homes. Construction is expected to begin in early 2026.
The Michigan complex will contribute to Oracle and OpenAI’s 4.5-GW Stargate program, which now includes seven sites nationwide. Together, these developments will bring the group’s planned data infrastructure capacity to over 8 GW, with an estimated investment exceeding $450 billion over the next three years.
According to OpenAI, the project keeps Stargate on track to reach its ambitious 10-GW target and $500 billion investment goal, aimed at enabling the computational power necessary for training increasingly sophisticated AI systems capable of matching or surpassing human intelligence.
“This project will help ensure Michigan is a key part of building the AI infrastructure that will power the next generation of American innovation,” said Peter Hoeschele, OpenAI’s Vice President of Industrial Compute.
OpenAI confirmed that Related Digital will serve as the project’s developer, with the site expected to create more than 2,500 union construction jobs during its buildout phase.
The announcement comes shortly after OpenAI completed a major corporate restructuring, giving it greater flexibility to raise capital and pursue commercial ventures beyond its nonprofit origins. Reports suggest the company may be preparing for an initial public offering (IPO) that could value it at up to $1 trillion.
However, the scale of AI-related investments—surpassing $1 trillion in total commitments for OpenAI alone—has prompted growing concern among analysts about the risk of an AI market bubble. Despite such concerns, OpenAI and Oracle continue to push forward, positioning the Stargate network as the backbone of the U.S.’s next-generation AI infrastructure.
If completed as planned, the Michigan data center will anchor a transformative phase in America’s AI expansion, cementing the Midwest’s role in powering the computational backbone of artificial intelligence innovation.