Gov. Greg Abbott said Texas is poised to receive a massive surge of AI-related investments that could even surpass those related to the $500 billion Stargate project.
The governor made the remarks during a Texas Economic Development Corp investor summit at Hillwood’s Circle T Ranch in Westlake. Abbott spoke of the increase in artificial intelligence investments coming to the state and underscored the importance of diversifying Texas’s economy.
Abbott alluded to AI-related investments in the works that will be even bigger than Stargate.
“There are several other, let’s say, developments not yet announced, not yet begun, that will be far larger than Stargate located in other parts of the state of Texas,” he said, per Dallas Business Journal. “Bottom line is … when you look at diversification, the hottest thing going on right now is artificial intelligence.”
The Dallas Express previously reported that the White House had announced the massive half-trillion-dollar Stargate Project, which kicked off in Abilene, Texas, roughly 150 miles west of Fort Worth.
On Tuesday, Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank announced plans to invest $400 billion over the coming three years to open five additional AI data centers in the United States as part of the massive project.
Yet again, Texas is poised to play a big part, with data centers planned in Shackleford County and Milam County.
Once the five additional complexes are operational, Project Stargate will reach nearly seven gigawatts of capacity. According to OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, the project is on track to invest the full $500 billion to create 10 gigawatts of capacity in four years. The initiative is expected to create over 25,000 on-site jobs, in addition to thousands of other positions nationwide.
“AI can only fulfill its promise if we build the compute to power it,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a statement. “That compute is the key to ensuring everyone can benefit from AI and to unlocking future breakthroughs.”