Microsoft and OpenAI are preparing a data center project worth up to $100 billion, which will contain an artificial intelligence supercomputer called "Stargate," as per sources. According to those participating in private discussions about the concept, Microsoft would most likely be in charge of financing the project, which would be 100 times more expensive than some of the largest existing data centers.

 

OpenAI's next big AI upgrade is slated to arrive early next year, and Microsoft executives plan to debut Stargate as soon as 2028. According to the report, the projected supercomputer in the United States would be the largest of several deployments planned by the corporations over the next six years.

 

The information attributed the tentative cost of $100 billion to a person who spoke to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman about it and a person who has viewed some of Microsoft's initial cost estimates. It did not identify those sources.

 

The $100 billion estimate was based on conversations with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and viewing some of Microsoft's earliest cost projections. Altman and Microsoft staff have divided supercomputers into five phases, with Stargate being the fifth. As per the report, Microsoft is developing a smaller, fourth-phase supercomputer for OpenAI, which it plans to launch around 2026.

 

Microsoft and OpenAI are currently in the third phase of the five-phase plan, with much of the cost of the following two stages comprising the procurement of the necessary AI processors.

 

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