Microsoft and OpenAI plan US$100 billion data center – 03/29/2024 – Tech

Microsoft and OpenAI, owner of ChatGPT, are planning to set up a data center that could cost up to US$100 billion (R$500 billion) and will include an artificial intelligence supercomputer called “Stargate”, according to a report released this Friday Monday (29).

The companies did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

The Information reported that Microsoft would likely be responsible for financing the project, which would be 100 times more expensive than some of today’s largest data centers, citing people involved in private conversations about the proposal.

OpenAI’s next major AI upgrade is expected to launch early next year, according to the report, adding that Microsoft executives are looking to launch Stargate as early as 2028.

The proposed US-based supercomputer would be the largest in a series of facilities the companies aim to build over the next six years, the report added.

The Information attributed the tentative $100 billion cost to a person who spoke with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about the matter and to a person who saw some of Microsoft’s initial cost estimates. He did not identify these sources.

Altman and Microsoft employees rolled out the supercomputers in five phases, with Stargate being the fifth phase. Microsoft is working on a smaller, fourth-phase supercomputer for OpenAI, which it aims to launch around 2026, according to the report.

Microsoft and OpenAI are in the middle of the third phase of the plan, with much of the cost of the next two phases involving acquiring the necessary AI chips, according to the report.

“We are always planning for the next generation of infrastructure innovations needed to continue pushing the frontier of AI capabilities,” Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said in a statement to the publication.

The proposed efforts could cost more than $115 billion, more than three times what Microsoft spent last year on capital expenditures for servers, buildings and other equipment, the report said.