OpenAI announced Project Camellia on July 22 — a data center campus in Effingham County near Savannah, Georgia, that marks the first time the company will design and develop its own facility rather than lease capacity built by partners. Committed investment: $20 billion, with total project costs likely to exceed $30 billion at full buildout, per Bloomberg.
The power deal
Georgia Power will deliver up to 3.2 gigawatts in phases between 2028 and 2032, under an agreement local reporting puts at 25 years. OpenAI also committed to reduce demand during peak grid load — up to 1 gigawatt — and to closed-loop water cooling.
Pre-empting the backlash
The announcement reads like a checklist of everything communities complain about: OpenAI says it will pay the full infrastructure and electric-service costs so "electricity rates will not go up for residents," pledges $80 million in community benefits over the project's life, promises an annual independent public audit, and adds up to $71 million in Codex credits for roughly 721,000 Georgia students. At least 400 permanent jobs are promised at the start, growing past 1,000 at full buildout.
The bigger number
The same morning, the Wall Street Journal reported OpenAI has raised its projected compute and infrastructure spending through 2030 to roughly $750 billion — up about 25% from the ~$600 billion the company projected earlier this year.
What's next
OpenAI is running a competitive process to pick a construction and operations partner, and a public open house in Effingham County was scheduled for the evening of July 23.