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Dive brief:
- OpenAI, Oracle, contractor Walbridge and other partners officially kicked off Monday at multi-million dollar data center campus in Saline, Michigan, according to an OpenAI press release.
- The $16 billion project, called The Barn, will include three single-story data center buildings with more than 1 gigawatt of capacityaccording to a statement from Oracle.
- The campus is part of it OpenAI’s Stargate Initiativea national effort to expand artificial intelligence computing infrastructure.
Diving knowledge:
The news comes as developers spend unprecedented amounts of money to build data center facilities, even as some projects are behind schedule for completionThe Wall Street Journal reported.
Supply chain hurdles and energy constraints have slowed construction timelines. Ultimately, community opposition can block all activity on a site.
In Michigan, The Barn’s innovation bucks that trend. The project ranks as the largest economic investment in the state’s history, according to Oracle.
In addition to OpenAI, Oracle and Detroit-based general contractor Walbridge, other partners include Related Digital and Blackstone. In April, Related Digital announced that it had secured funding for the $16 billion data center campus projectaccording to a press release.
Walbridge helped develop what project stakeholders described as the first project labor agreement in the nation, executed under the National Maintenance Agreement, covering all 14 signatory qualified affiliate unions. Approximately 700 union workers will work on the 250-acre site.
“Walbridge has been building in Michigan for more than a century, and we’re proud to continue that legacy here in Washtenaw County,” Walbridge CEO Mike Haller said in the statement. “We’re excited to be part of the team delivering the advanced infrastructure that will power the next generation of AI and innovation.”
The Saline campus is also the first data center built under the memorandum of understanding between OpenAI and North American construction unions, according to Oracle’s press release.
“Projects like this demonstrate what’s possible when workforce strategy is part of project planning from the start,” NABTU president Sean McGarvey said in the statement. “Demand for AI and data center infrastructure is growing rapidly, and Building Trades and our contractor partners have spent decades preparing the skilled workforce, training capacity and industry partnerships needed to build this next generation of infrastructure safely, efficiently and at scale.”
The three data center rooms are currently under construction with the first 550,000 square foot facility nearing completion, according to Oracle.
