OpenAI announces the largest investment in history: USD 25 billion to develop AI in Argentina

OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, announced a strategic alliance with Sur Energy, a clean energy firm founded by Argentine entrepreneurs in the United States, to build a mega artificial intelligence data center in Patagonia.

The project, named Stargate Argentina, will require a total investment of up to USD 25 billion and was defined as the largest infrastructure project in national history.

According to sources in the sector, the decision was made within the framework of the excellent relationship between the Milei administration and the United States, a relationship that today positions Argentina as a preferred partner on the Western technological and energy map.

Milei, the axis of the new global technological map

The announcement came after a meeting between Javier Milei, Chris Lehane (Chief Global Affairs Officer at OpenAI), and Emiliano Kargieman, co-founder of Sur Energy. The meeting marked the beginning of a project that will transform the country into the main AI hub in Latin America, capable of generating and exporting computing power on a global scale.

"This milestone goes beyond infrastructure. It's about putting artificial intelligence in the hands of people throughout Argentina," said Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI. The company emphasizes that Argentina offers unique conditions: regulatory framework, growing macroeconomic stability, and geopolitical affinity with the West.

Stargate Argentina: technology, energy, and digital sovereignty

The mega data center will be powered by renewable energy supplied by Central Puerto and Genneia, and will have a capacity of 500 megawatts, making it the largest of its kind in Latin America.

In addition, the project could incorporate domestic nuclear energy in the future, in line with the vision of physicist Demian Reidel, president of Nucleoeléctrica.

The plan will be included in the Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI) and will be developed in several stages, with a first phase of USD 7 billion to 10 billion. OpenAI will act as the offtaker—buyer of all the computing power caused—guaranteeing the financial viability of the venture.

A legacy of Argentine innovation

The project also has a human side: it was conceived by Mat Travizano, an Argentine physicist and entrepreneur who recently passed away in the United States. "Mat should be here, announcing this mega project. We're going to continue with his idea and legacy," said Kargieman.

Sur Energy, a spin-off of Sur Ventures, is associated with international figures such as Stan Chudnovsky, former Meta executive and current CEO of the telco Wom. The company combines AI infrastructure and clean energy, setting the path for a sustainable, productive development model aligned with the global technological revolution.

Argentina, beacon of the West in artificial intelligence

The Stargate project joins the data centers that OpenAI is developing in Germany, Norway, Japan, and Korea, but it will be the largest of all. It is part of a strategy that foresees USD 500 billion in global infrastructure, with the goal of strengthening Western technological leadership in the face of authoritarian models.

The initiative aims not only to export computing power, but also to accelerate the local adoption of AI in education, health, industry, and public administration. OpenAI highlighted that the use of ChatGPT in Argentina has tripled in the past year, and that the country ranks among the top five with the most paid users in all of Latin America.

A country betting on the forefront

With the arrival of Stargate Argentina, the Milei government consolidates a policy of openness and modernization that attracts capital, technology, and skilled employment.

While other countries in the region stagnate in statist models, Argentina is integrating into the Western productive and technological axis, alongside the United States, Israel, and Europe.