By Nethra Sailesh
OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, has signed a deal with cloud platform service provider Oracle. This deal includes constructing $300 billion worth of computer infrastructure, which will be used to provide services to customers.
This deal is a part of Project Starlight, which was initiated during Donald Trump’s reelection in January. This is a joint venture between OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son. Named after the 1994 film Stargate, the project will focus on building advanced AI data Centers in the US. The construction for the same has already begun in Texas and Abilene.
According to a previous Wall Street Journal report, these expansion plans will take place over five years. On Wednesday, Oracle’s stock went up by 36%, the biggest gain it has seen since the nineties. This also had a ripple effect, where Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison briefly raced ahead of Elon Musk to become the world’s richest man.
In the past, OpenAI had stated potential plans to have a deal with Oracle to start building more data centers. However, no additional details about this alleged pact were shared (until the WSJ news report).
OpenAI also has other expansion plans under its belt, which include building a computing complex in the UAE. It’s a joint venture along with Oracle, SoftBank, the Emirati artificial intelligence firm G42, and others.
G42 has also pledged a dollar-for-dollar investment model, matching funds for U.S. data center construction with its Middle East expansion. In simple words, this means that after Trump struck a deal UAE, where G42 will send an equivalent sum to US data centers based on what they invest in their home turf.
India also comes under OpenAI’s aggressive expansion belt, where the company was reportedly planning to set up a data center here and is already in discussions with Reliance Industries and Sify Technologies.
As of September 13, 2025, Oracle’s stock was trading at $292.18 on the NYSE, a 5.04% drop.