March 6 (Reuters) - Oracle and OpenAI have abandoned plans to expand a flagship artificial intelligence data center in Texas after negotiations dragged over financing and OpenAI's changing needs, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The plan is part of the Stargate project, a joint venture between SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle to build data centers. The project was announced in January by U.S. President Donald Trump, who said the companies would invest up to $500
billion to fund infrastructure for AI.
Although construction of the site is ongoing and parts of it are operational, Oracle and OpenAI have decided against moving forward with tentative plans to lease a large expansion, the report said.
The collapsed talks created an opening for Meta Platforms to step in and consider leasing the planned expansion site in Abilene, Texas, from developer Crusoe, it said. Nvidia helped facilitate the discussions.
Oracle and OpenAI are using Nvidia's AI semiconductors at the Stargate site and the chip designer stepped in to make sure its products, rather than those of competitor Advanced Micro Devices , would be used to power the expanded data center, according to the report.
Nvidia put down a $150 million deposit with Crusoe and started working to bring Meta as a tenant for the expanded facility, Bloomberg News said.
Oracle, OpenAI and Meta did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank unveiled plans for five new U.S. AI data centers for Stargate in September. These include three sites with Oracle, two affiliated with SoftBank and an expansion of the Oracle site in Abilene.
(Reporting by Juby Babu in Mexico City; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Sahal Muhammed)
