OpenAI: $750 Billion for AI by 2030

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Key Takeaways

1OpenAI plans to spend $750 billion on infrastructure by 2030, exceeding its initial forecasts by 25%.

2A $20 billion data center campus, Project Camellia, will be built in Georgia, requiring 3.2 gigawatts of energy.

3OpenAI is receiving a 50% tax exemption over 15 years in Effingham County for this project.

💡Why it matters — These massive infrastructure investments could transform the energy and economic landscape of the region while posing environmental challenges.

OpenAI's AI Spending Reaches New Heights

OpenAI has announced that it plans to spend $750 billion on infrastructure by 2030. This amount represents a 25% increase from previous forecasts for the year, according to the Wall Street Journal. This announcement comes as the Stargate data center project appears to have stalled.

Launch of Project Camellia in Georgia

The first act of this new strategy is the construction of a $20 billion data center campus in Georgia, named Project Camellia. This project will span 1,400 acres northwest of Savannah and will require 3.2 gigawatts of energy from Georgia Power. Production capacity is expected between 2028 and 2032.

Funding and Energy Costs

OpenAI has stated that it will cover all costs related to infrastructure and electrical services for this new data center. The Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) adopted a rule last year to prevent utilities from passing on costs associated with new users drawing more than 100 megawatts.

Georgia Power has also indicated that OpenAI will reduce its energy consumption by up to 1 gigawatt during peak demand periods on the grid.

Tax Benefits for OpenAI

OpenAI will benefit from a 50% property tax exemption for 15 years from Effingham County, according to the Effingham Herald.

Uncertain Energy Supply

Neither OpenAI nor Georgia Power has specified how Project Camellia will be powered. TechCrunch reached out to both companies for clarification but did not receive an immediate response.

Regulatory Filing Clues

Regulatory filings may provide some clues. In December, Georgia Power received PSC approval to produce an additional 9,885 megawatts. The utility informed the PSC that it expects to have all contracted capacity by the end of 2026. The agreement with OpenAI represents about one-third of that.

According to documents filed by Georgia Power with the PSC, most of the new capacity will come from natural gas. The utility stated that it would build or purchase approximately 5.8 gigawatts of natural gas-based production capacity from third parties, with about a quarter coming from more polluting simple cycle turbines. In total, the new fossil capacity will more than double Georgia Power's natural gas fleet. The remainder will be supplied by large-scale batteries and solar energy.

Operations Expected to Begin Before 2028

While electricity from Georgia Power is expected to start flowing in 2028, OpenAI has not provided a timeline for when the first GPU will be activated. This could happen before 2028, given that OpenAI recently hired Brett Mayo to lead the construction of the data center. Mayo previously worked at xAI, where he oversaw the Colossus data center in Memphis.

Precedents and Environmental Concerns

Colossus was built in record time, but this allegedly had consequences for local air quality, according to a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center. The xAI data center operated with dozens of unauthorized natural gas turbines, claiming to be exempt from federal air quality regulations.