OpenAI to spend $30 billion on a 3.2 GW data center campus in Georgia

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OpenAI has announced a 3.2 gigawatt AI data center in Georgia

The campus will be built on an existing industrially-zoned warehouse project

OpenAI has laid out four commitments to the local community

OpenAI is planning to build a new $30 billion AI data center campus in Effingham County, Georgia, that will deliver 3.2 gigawatts of compute once fully operational.

The site, named ‘Project Camellia’, will span 1,400 acres and is expected to be completed in phases between 2028 and 2032. The construction will take place on a pre-existing industrially-zoned warehouse project in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub.

But OpenAI’s announcement significantly differs from previous data center announcements, with the focus being on how the project will benefit the local community, rather than the added capacity and compute it will offer to OpenAI’s models.

OpenAI wants to be accountable

In order to try and quell some of the local opposition to new data center projects, OpenAI’s announcement breaks down into a four point plan for community engagement.

The first focuses on one of the main concerns for Americans across the country: electricity. OpenAI pledges to “pay the full cost of the infrastructure and electric-service costs required to serve it.” But, as OpenAI highlights in the announcement, Georgia Public Service Commission rules prevent the company from passing on any costs to existing ratepayers in the first place. So it’s less of a pledge, and more an acknowledgement of the rules.

But OpenAI says it will “proactively reduce its power consumption before residential customers are impacted during periods of high demand” in order to “meaningfully support the reliability of Georgia Power’s electric system and support our neighbors.” How this will work in practice is not detailed.

OpenAI says the new data center will also operate using a closed-loop cooling system to prevent unnecessary water use through continuous withdrawing and discharging in the local water supply - so outside of the initial system flush and subsequent filling of the closed loop system, the actual water usage will be comparatively low. But things can still go wrong during these initial water intakes and discharges .

As a third benefit for the local community, OpenAI has pledged $80 million “in community benefits over the life of the project” on top of the “hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local tax revenue” that OpenAI expects will make it the largest taxpayer in the county. OpenAI will also provide “eligible Georgia college, community college, and technical school students” with up to $71 million in credits for OpenAI Codex.

OpenAI does not give a timeframe for the lifespan of the project, so the $80 million in community benefits could be a relatively small annual amount depending on how long the project is expected to last.

Finally, OpenAI commits to being accountable. OpenAI says it has already been gathering feedback from state and local officials, community leaders, schools, and other regional partners “to learn about local priorities and gather feedback on the project.” To that end, OpenAI is holding a public open house on July 23, one day after the initial announcement was made. Feedback from this meeting, and subsequent engagements with the local community will be “memorialized” in a Georgia Community Compact to “translate community priorities into specific commitments and clear accountability measures as the project develops.”