Billion-dollar infrastructure deals power AI boom

Running an AI product requires a lot of computing power — and while the tech industry races to harness the power of AI models, there’s a parallel race underway to build the infrastructure that will power them. In a recent earnings call, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang estimated that between $3 trillion and $4 trillion will be spent on AI infrastructure by the end of the decade — with much of that money coming from AI companies. Along the way, they are putting enormous pressure on power grids and pushing industry building capacity to its limits.

Below, we’ve laid out everything we know about the biggest AI infrastructure projects, including big spending from Meta, Oracle, Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI. We will keep it updated as the boom continues and the numbers grow.

Microsoft invests $1 billion in OpenAI

This is arguably the deal that launched the entire contemporary AI boom: In 2019Microsoft has invested $1 billion in a non-profit called OpenAI, known mostly for its association with Elon Musk. Most importantly, the deal makes Microsoft the exclusive cloud provider for OpenAI — and as model training requirements become more intense, more Microsoft investments begin to emerge In the form of Azure cloud credit Instead of criticism.

It was a great deal for both sides: Microsoft was able to claim more Azure sales, and OpenAI got more money for its largest single expense. In the years since, Microsoft has built its investment to nearly $14 billion — a move that is expected to pay off in a big way when OpenAI turns into a for-profit company.

The partnership between the two companies recently ended. In January, OpenAI announced it would do so You no longer use the Microsoft cloud exclusivelyrather than giving the company right of first refusal for future infrastructure requirements with others pursuing if Azure can’t meet their needs. More recently, Microsoft has begun exploring other basic models for operating its AI products, leading to more independence from the AI ​​giant.

OpenAI’s arrangement with Microsoft has been so successful that it has become common practice for AI services to sign on with a particular cloud provider. Anthropic received $8 billion in investments from Amazon, while… Make modifications at the kernel level on the company’s devices to make them more suitable for training artificial intelligence. You are also signed in to Google Cloud Smaller AI companies like Lovable and Windsurf As “core computing partners”, although those deals did not involve any investment. Even OpenAI is back in the well, receiving a $100 billion investment from Nvidia In SeptemberWhich gives it the ability to buy more of the company’s GPUs.

The rise of the oracle

On June 30, 2025, Oracle disclosed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it had signed a $30 billion cloud services deal with an unnamed partner; This is more than the company’s cloud revenue for the entire previous fiscal year. OpenAI was eventually revealed as a partner to secure Oracle Place next to Google As one of a series of post-Microsoft OpenAI hosting partners. Unsurprisingly, the company’s shares rose significantly.

A few months later, it happened again. On September 10thOracle unveiled a five-year, $300 billion deal for computing power, scheduled to begin in 2027. Oracle stock He climbed higherWhich briefly made founder Larry Ellison the richest man in the world. The sheer size of the deal is staggering: OpenAI doesn’t have $300 billion to spend, so the number assumes massive growth for both companies, and more than a little faith.

But before a single dollar has been spent, the deal has already cemented Oracle as one of the leading providers of AI infrastructure — and a financial force to be reckoned with.

Investment spree in Nvidia

As AI labs scramble to build infrastructure, they mostly buy GPUs from one company: Nvidia. The trade has left Nvidia flush with cash — and it’s investing that money back into the industry in increasingly unconventional ways. In September 2025, it bought the company Four percent stake in rival Intel For $5 billion – but what’s even more surprising are the deals it has struck with its clients. The company made the announcement one week after the Intel deal was revealed $100 billion investment in OpenAIis paid for with GPUs that will be used in OpenAI’s ongoing data center projects. Nvidia has since announced a similar deal with Elon Musk’s xAI, and OpenAI has been launched Separate arrangement for GPU vs. stock With AMD.

If that sounds circular, it should. Nvidia GPUs are valuable because they’re so rare — and by trading them directly into an ever-inflating data center chart, Nvidia is making sure they stay that way. You can say the same about privately held OpenAI stock, which is more valuable because it can’t be acquired through public markets. Right now, OpenAI and Nvidia are performing highly and no one seems too worried – but if momentum starts to wane, this type of arrangement will come under more scrutiny.

Building tomorrow’s hyperscale data centers

For companies like Meta that already have Important old infrastructurethe story is more complicated – although just as expensive. Mark Zuckerberg said that Meta plans to spend $600 billion on infrastructure in the United States Until the end of 2028.

And in just the first half of 2025, the company spent Another $30 billion compared to the previous year, largely driven by the company’s growing AI ambitions. Some of that spending goes toward large cloud contracts, like recent ones $10 billion deal with Google Cloudbut more resources are being pumped into two massive new data centers.

New 2,250-acre site in Louisiana, It’s called HyperionIt will cost an estimated $10 billion to build Saving an estimated 5 gigawatts of computing power. Notably, the site includes an arrangement with a local nuclear power plant to handle the increased power load. A smaller site in Ohio, called Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026, powered by natural gas.

This type of construction comes with real environmental costs. Elon Musk’s xAI company has built its own hybrid data center and power plant in South Memphis, Tennessee. The plant quickly became one of the largest emitters of smog-causing chemicals, thanks to a series of natural gas turbines that Experts say this violates the Clean Air Act.

Moon shot in the Stargate

Just two days after his second inauguration, President Trump announced a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI, and Oracle, aiming to spend $500 billion to build AI infrastructure in the United States. Named “Stargate” after the 1994 film, the project has generated an incredible amount of hype, with Trump describing it as “the largest AI infrastructure project in history.” Sam Altman seemed to agree, saying: “I think this will be the most important project of this era.”

Overall, the plan was for SoftBank to provide the financing, with Oracle handling the build process with input from OpenAI. All of this was supervised by Trump, who promised to remove any regulatory obstacles that might slow down the construction process. But there were skepticism from the beginning, including from Elon Musk, Altman’s business rival, who claimed the project did not have the funds available.

As the hype subsided, the project lost some momentum. In AugustBloomberg reported that the partners failed to reach a consensus. However, the project went ahead with construction Eight data centers in Abilene, TexasConstruction of the final building is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026.

This article was first published on September 22.