Stargate UK paused; Texas starts
Reports say OpenAI has paused part of its Stargate UK data‑centre effort, citing high costs and regulatory issues, while a related Stargate megaproject is moving forward in Texas with reported backing from OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and Crusoe. The two reports frame a selective shift in where large AI infrastructure is being built. (alltoc.com, iberoeconomia.es)
OpenAI has paused its main Stargate data-centre effort in Britain, while the first big United States buildout is already under way in Texas. (thenextweb.com, openai.com) Reuters and Bloomberg reported on April 9 that OpenAI put the UK project on hold after months of talks, pointing to industrial power prices and an unsettled rulebook for artificial-intelligence copyright. OpenAI said it would keep working with the British government on public-service use of ChatGPT and related tools. (msn.com, bloomberg.com) The UK setback lands after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government spent months pitching “AI Growth Zones” to speed planning approvals and power access for new data centres. A November 2025 policy paper said those zones were meant to cut the two biggest barriers: slow planning and delays getting electricity to sites. (gov.uk) Stargate is OpenAI’s umbrella plan for the warehouses full of chips that train and run artificial-intelligence systems. OpenAI said on January 21, 2025 that Stargate aimed to invest $500 billion over four years in United States infrastructure, with SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX as the initial equity funders. (openai.com, group.softbank) OpenAI said at launch that construction was starting in Texas, making the United States project the clearest test of whether Stargate could move from announcement to operating capacity. The company named Texas as the first build site and said Oracle, Nvidia and OpenAI would work together on the computing system. (openai.com) By September 2025, OpenAI said Stargate had nearly 7 gigawatts of planned capacity across multiple states, including sites in Texas, New Mexico and Ohio. Data Center Dynamics reported that Abilene, Texas, remained the flagship campus, with two buildings launched in September 2025 and six more due in 2026 for about 1.2 gigawatts in total. (datacenterdynamics.com, datacenterdynamics.com) That does not mean every Texas expansion is moving cleanly. Bloomberg and Reuters reported in March that Oracle and OpenAI dropped plans to expand Abilene from about 1.2 gigawatts to 2 gigawatts after financing talks dragged and OpenAI changed its near-term demand forecasts. (bloomberg.com, usnews.com) Data Center Dynamics reported that developer Crusoe is still building at Abilene, even as OpenAI shifts some added capacity to other campuses. The same report said Meta was in talks to lease some of the shelved expansion space, showing how quickly unused artificial-intelligence power can be redirected to another buyer. (datacenterdynamics.com) The split picture is straightforward: Britain is still trying to make power and planning work for a flagship OpenAI site, while the United States already has steel, buildings and live capacity on the ground. Stargate is not stopping, but it is moving unevenly — and right now Texas is ahead of the UK. (gov.uk, openai.com, thenextweb.com)
