ChatGPT developer OpenAI is moving forward with plans to construct additional data centers in more than 10 states, including Texas, according to a Bloomberg report on the 6th.

On the 21st of last month, OpenAI announced the establishment of a joint venture called "Stargate" with Japanese investment firm SoftBank and U.S. software company Oracle, investing over $500 billion to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. It was previously reported that Stargate's first data center would be built in Abilene, a small city in Texas, spanning 875 acres (3.54 square kilometers), roughly the size of New York's Central Park.

Bloomberg reported that, in addition to Abilene, site selection for additional data centers is underway in other parts of Texas, and OpenAI is evaluating potential sites in 15 states, including Texas. To this end, executives from OpenAI and SoftBank visited Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Oregon this week.

Chris Leheine, Vice President of Global Operations at OpenAI, stated, "There is tremendous interest across the U.S. to attract the Stargate project. To expedite the site selection process, we began publicly accepting proposals last week."

OpenAI is also soliciting bids from architecture and engineering firms to design the AI data centers.

Each data center project is expected to consume approximately 1 gigawatt (GW) of power, equivalent to the output of a nuclear power plant. This is enough to power 750,000 to 1 million households.

State governments anticipate that OpenAI's data centers will help establish local AI hubs and create new opportunities for startups, developers, and other related professionals.

OpenAI plans to review proposals and announce the final site selections by the first half of the year, accelerating the construction of the data centers.