SB Energy Secures $1.8 Billion and OpenAI 1.2 GW Lease to Anchor U.S. AI Data Center Expansion

New updates have been reported about SB Energy.

SB Energy has become a central execution platform for large-scale AI infrastructure following a new $1 billion equity infusion and a long-term, 1.2 gigawatt (GW) data center lease from OpenAI. OpenAI and SoftBank Group will each invest $500 million into SB Energy as part of the Stargate initiative, building on a previously announced $500 billion multiyear commitment to AI and energy infrastructure in the U.S. In parallel, OpenAI has selected SB Energy to build and operate its 1.2 GW data center campus in Milam County, Texas, with initial facilities expected to come online starting in 2026. This funding and contract win position SB Energy as a key development and execution partner for multi-gigawatt data center campuses tied to AI compute demand, while reinforcing SoftBank’s role as a strategic sponsor. The company will also become a major OpenAI customer, adopting its APIs and deploying ChatGPT internally, signaling deeper operational integration beyond the infrastructure layer.

SB Energy is scaling into a fully integrated AI data center and power infrastructure developer, supported by a prior $800 million redeemable preferred equity investment from Ares Infrastructure Opportunities funds in 2025—Ares’ third financing to the company since 2020. To strengthen execution capabilities, SB Energy recently acquired Studio 151, a data center construction management, procurement, engineering, and operations firm with experience across 20 campuses, consolidating technical expertise that had already been deployed on joint projects with OpenAI. Under a new, non-exclusive preferred partnership, OpenAI, SoftBank Group, and SB Energy aim to standardize a model for AI-focused data center builds that combines OpenAI’s first-party designs with SB Energy’s cost discipline, speed, and integrated energy delivery. The Milam County project is expected to create thousands of construction jobs, incorporate low-water-use design, and be supported by new generation assets intended to meet the site’s power needs while limiting impacts on Texas ratepayers, underscoring SB Energy’s strategy of pairing AI infrastructure growth with local economic development and grid modernization.