OpenAI plans to spend $750 billion on infrastructure by 2030, starting with a massive Georgia data centre
The company's first move is a 1,400-acre campus near Savannah that will draw enough electricity to power a small city, mostly from new natural gas plants.
Key points
- OpenAI raised its infrastructure spending target to $750 billion through 2030, up 25% from an earlier estimate made in 2025.
- Project Camellia, a data centre campus northwest of Savannah, Georgia, will cover 1,400 acres and draw at least 3.2 gigawatts of power from Georgia Power.
- Georgia Power plans to generate most of the new electricity from natural gas, which will more than double its existing gas fleet.
- OpenAI is receiving a 50% property tax cut from Effingham County for 15 years.
- Power is expected to start flowing between 2028 and 2032, though construction could begin sooner.
OpenAI has bumped its infrastructure spending target to $750 billion through 2030, 25% higher than what the company projected earlier this year, as first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The centrepiece of that spending is Project Camellia, a data centre campus sitting on 1,400 acres northwest of Savannah, Georgia. A data centre is, in plain terms, a warehouse full of computers running AI software around the clock. This one will pull at least 3.2 gigawatts of electricity from Georgia Power. That's roughly the output of three typical nuclear reactors. Power should start flowing between 2028 and 2032.
OpenAI says it'll cover the full cost of infrastructure and electricity itself. That matters because Georgia's Public Service Commission, the state body that regulates utilities, passed a rule last year barring utilities from passing costs on to ordinary customers when a single new user draws more than 100 megawatts. Residential and business electricity bills in Georgia shouldn't rise because of this deal.
OpenAI also agreed to cut its power draw by up to 1 gigawatt during peak-demand periods. Effingham County is giving OpenAI a 50% property tax abatement, a reduction in the local tax it would otherwise owe, for 15 years.
Where will all that electricity come from?
Mostly natural gas. In December 2024, Georgia Power received approval to add 9,885 megawatts of new generating capacity. Regulatory filings show roughly 5.8 gigawatts of that will come from natural gas plants, with about a quarter of those being simpler, more polluting turbines. The OpenAI deal accounts for roughly a third of the total new capacity. Grid-scale batteries and solar will supply the rest.
Neither OpenAI nor Georgia Power has confirmed the exact energy mix for Project Camellia specifically.
Should you worry about speed over safety?
OpenAI recently hired Brett Mayo to lead data centre construction. Mayo previously oversaw the Colossus facility in Memphis for xAI. Colossus was built unusually fast, but a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the Southern Environmental Law Center claims the site ran dozens of natural gas turbines without required air-quality permits, claiming exemption from federal clean air rules.
Contrast that with New York, where we reported on 14 July 2026 that Governor Hochul froze all new data centre permits over 50 megawatts while regulators write environmental standards. Georgia is moving in the opposite direction. If you live near Savannah, the new natural gas capacity alone will more than double Georgia Power's existing gas fleet, and regulators will be the main check on how that build-out actually proceeds.
