OpenAI announced on Wednesday that it will invest $750 billion in infrastructure through 2030, marking a 25% increase from its previous estimate. The company plans to use this funding to expand its data center operations, with the first major project being a $20 billion campus in Georgia known as Project Camellia. The campus will cover 1,400 acres and draw at least 3.2 gigawatts of power from Georgia Power, according to the Georgia Public Service Commission. The development is expected to be operational between 2028 and 2032. OpenAI will cover the full cost of the infrastructure and electric-service costs for the new data center. The company has also secured a 50% property tax abatement for 15 years from Effingham County. Neither OpenAI nor Georgia Power has disclosed how Project Camellia will be powered, though regulatory filings suggest most of the new capacity will come from natural gas. Georgia Power plans to build or acquire about 5.8 gigawatts of natural gas generating capacity, with a quarter coming from more polluting simple-cycle turbines. The remainder will be supplied by grid-scale batteries and solar. 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. Brett Mayo, who recently joined OpenAI to lead data center construction, previously oversaw the Colossus data center in Memphis for xAI. The Colossus data center has been linked to local air quality concerns due to unpermitted natural gas turbines, according to a lawsuit by the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center. The xAI data center has allegedly claimed exemption from federal clean air regulations. The OpenAI deal accounts for about a third of the 9,885 megawatts of additional capacity approved by the Georgia Public Service Commission in December. The utility expects to have all the capacity contracted by the end of 2026.
Source: techcrunch
