(Reuters) -A data center in Texas that startup Crusoe is building for OpenAI has secured $11.6 billion in funding to expand from two to eight buildings, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
The data center — expected to be the ChatGPT parent's largest — will use up to 50,000 Nvidia Blackwell chips per building, according to the report.
The funding, a mix of debt and equity, will increase the total amount secured for the project to $15 billion, the WSJ report said, citing Crusoe.
The development of these data centers is a crucial step for OpenAI as it looks to expand key infrastructure necessary for tackling complex tasks employed by generative artificial intelligence, while reducing dependence on its backer Microsoft.
OpenAI, Nvidia and Crusoe did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
Crusoe, launched in 2018 as a cryptocurrency business, has pivoted to building AI infrastructure and is among the upcoming "neoclouds" that provide specialized AI cloud and data center services.
The startup was tapped by Oracle to build the first data center for the $500 billion Stargate project, Reuters had reported in January.
Crusoe is building its own data center in Abilene, Texas that will hold 100,000 specialized AI chips per building and is set to come online this year.
(Reporting by Arsheeya Bajwa in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
