Sam Altman unveils $1.4 trillion AI expansion plan as OpenAI transforms into global tech powerhouse

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has unveiled an audacious trillion-dollar vision for the company, signalling its most ambitious expansion yet and marking a defining shift from a research-focused AI lab to one of Silicon Valley’s most powerful corporate entities.

Following a restructuring deal with Microsoft that lifts restrictions on OpenAI’s ability to raise external capital, Altman outlined sweeping plans to develop an unprecedented 30 gigawatts of computing power at an estimated cost of $1.4 trillion. Speaking during a livestream on Tuesday, he said his long-term goal is to enable OpenAI to add one gigawatt of computing capacity every week, though each currently costs over $40 billion to build. Altman added that capital costs could eventually halve, without elaborating on how this reduction would be achieved, as reported by Reuters.

The announcement cements OpenAI’s transition into a large-scale infrastructure company, with the capacity and capital ambitions of a global tech conglomerate. It also positions OpenAI as a contender for a future public market listing, underscoring its intent to secure the vast funding required to meet surging AI demand.

Altman, who has previously spoken about creative financing structures and partnerships with companies such as Nvidia, has faced criticism for what analysts describe as circular deal-making—arrangements that may inflate perceived growth and fuel concerns about an emerging AI investment bubble.

In January, Altman joined US President Donald Trump at the White House to announce Stargate, a $500 billion AI infrastructure project being developed in partnership with Oracle, SoftBank, Nvidia, and CoreWeave. At the time, he said the initiative would deliver 10 gigawatts of data centre capacity. The new plan triples that figure, signalling a massive escalation in OpenAI’s ambitions.

During the same event, Altman described the project as a job-creating enterprise that would underpin the next industrial revolution in AI. He has since said that OpenAI will ultimately need to generate hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue to sustain its investment pace — a tenfold increase from its current $20 billion annual run rate, expected by the end of this year.

The company also announced the creation of the OpenAI Foundation, a non-profit body that will oversee OpenAI’s mission and direct resources towards causes such as disease research and building AI resilience. However, given OpenAI remains loss-making, questions remain over how these projects will be funded.

Altman, who once told employees that OpenAI could become “the most important company in Silicon Valley’s history,” now appears intent on making that prediction a self-fulfilling one — even if it means steering the company into uncharted financial and technological territory.