OpenAI Group PBC has announced plans to invest $500 million in SoftBank Group Corp.’s SB Energy unit, which focuses on developing renewable energy installations and data centers. This strategic investment is part of a broader transaction that includes several additional components.
Firstly, SoftBank will match OpenAI’s $500 million investment in SB Energy, effectively doubling the total funding round to $1 billion. Moreover, SB Energy will integrate OpenAI’s services internally and support OpenAI’s Stargate initiative, highlighting a deepening partnership between the two companies.
This collaboration is particularly notable because SoftBank is the largest investor in OpenAI, the developer behind ChatGPT. Back in March, the Japanese tech giant led a massive $40 billion funding round for OpenAI, reportedly releasing the final $22.5 billion tranche in late December.
**SB Energy’s Renewable and Data Center Developments**
Founded in 2011, SB Energy was established by SoftBank to build renewable energy infrastructure. Currently, the company is working on two energy storage facilities in California with a combined capacity of approximately 1.36 gigawatts. One of these sites will also feature a solar park with a peak output of 570 megawatts.
SB Energy’s operations extend beyond California; it is active in Texas as well. In late 2024, the company inaugurated the Orion Solar Belt, a 900-megawatt solar park near Austin. This facility supports one of Google LLC’s data center campuses in the state.
**Building the Stargate Data Center**
SB Energy is not only constructing energy installations but also developing advanced technology infrastructure. As part of the new partnership announcement, OpenAI revealed that SB Energy will be responsible for building a 1.2-gigawatt Stargate data center located in Milam County, Texas—the same region that houses the Orion Solar Belt solar park.
Additionally, SB Energy’s website indicates that the company is developing a second data center campus in Texas. Although it remains unclear whether this facility will directly support OpenAI, the site is expected to accommodate over 1 gigawatt of computing infrastructure.
**Innovating Data Center Construction**
OpenAI, SB Energy, and SoftBank are collaborating to forge a new approach to data center construction. This methodology aims to combine OpenAI’s proprietary data center design expertise with SB Energy’s strengths in speed, cost discipline, and integrated energy solutions.
The partnership is structured as a non-exclusive preferred alliance. Alongside contributing to the Stargate project, SB Energy plans to deploy ChatGPT among its employees and implement OpenAI’s application programming interfaces (APIs). These APIs provide access to GPT-5—the model family powering ChatGPT—along with more than a dozen other advanced neural networks.
**Additional Financing and Strategic Moves**
Separately, SB Energy is in the process of raising $800 million from private equity firm Ares Management to fund its growth initiatives.
OpenAI’s investment in SB Energy marks the second time the company has invested in an affiliate of one of its own investors. Last month, OpenAI acquired a stake in Thrive Holdings, a fund managing professional service companies. Thrive Holdings operates under Thrive Capital, which invested over $1 billion in OpenAI last year.
This evolving web of investments and collaborations illustrates OpenAI’s commitment to expanding its technological infrastructure and strengthening its strategic partnerships within the energy and tech sectors.
https://siliconangle.com/2026/01/09/openai-invests-500m-softbanks-sb-energy-unit/