OpenAI, the U.S. artificial intelligence company behind ChatGPT, announced Monday it is joining a multi-company data center venture in Pike County.
OpenAI joins Japanese-owned SoftBank Group's SB Energy, Nvidia and the U.S. Department of Energy in what is planned to be a six-year construction project. The company said it will use about 8 gigawatts of power at the plant, which was formerly a uranium enrichment facility called the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
"Pike County helped power America’s industrial growth in the 20th century and now, with this project, it has another opportunity to play a leading role in the next era of American industrialization," the company said in a news release Monday.
The project is being dubbed the PORTS-Pike Technology Data Center.
OpenAI said it will pay for its own energy and infrastructure costs and have a closed loop water system to reduce the impact on local water resources. Electric and water usage at data centers has been a big concern for many Ohio residents and some lawmakers.
This would include paying for the costs to upgrade the grid, such as new transmission lines.
While the company said the site will largely be powered off-the-grid, an 800 megawatt data center will be constructed by 2028, largely using existing AEP infrastructure.
Data centers connecting to the existing electric grid have contributed to rising costs for residents, primarily due to the need to upgrade aging infrastructure throughout the PJM Interconnection grid in the northeast United States.
OpenAI said the closed loop water system will use an on-site water system that will be air-cooled and recirculate used water rather than relying on cooling towers that continuously consume water for cooling.
"Once the data center cooling system is filled, ongoing water use is expected to be comparable to an office building supporting a similar number of people, including sinks and restrooms, equipment washdown and maintenance, and landscaping," the news release said.
The company said it will publicly report the facility's water usage once it is operational.
Earlier this year, SB Energy and the federal government announced plans for the world's largest data center at the site, powered by new natural gas plants. It would total 10 gigawatts, powered in part by 9.2 gigawatts from new natural gas plants on the site.
The company said the bulk of the 35,000 estimated new jobs created by the project would be construction jobs. Only 2,500 will be long-term jobs, keeping the facilities operational.
The Portsmouth plant enriched uranium for nearly 50 years from 1954 to 2001 for the U.S. nuclear arms program and commercial nuclear reactors.
At the original announcement for the project in March, the U.S. Department of Commerce said the investment was thanks to a $550 billion trade deal between the U.S. and Japan.
