OpenAI and NVIDIA to Deploy 10 GW of Compute in San Francisco by 2026

A strategic partnership to deploy at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA systems for OpenAI’s next‑generation AI infrastructure has been announced by the two companies in San Francisco and Santa Clara on 22 September 2025. The agreement, formalised through a letter of intent, will see NVIDIA invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI as the new hardware is rolled out, with the first phase slated to go live in the second half of 2026 using NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin platform. The collaboration follows a decade of joint development, from the original DGX supercomputer to the launch of ChatGPT, and aims to provide the compute capacity required to train and run increasingly sophisticated models on the path to artificial general intelligence.

NVIDIA Invests Up to $100 Billion to Power OpenAI’s Next‑Generation Models. NVIDIA’s pledge of up to $100 billion to OpenAI, announced from San Francisco and Santa Clara on 22 September 2025, will fund the deployment of at least 10 gigawatts of NVIDIA‑powered compute. The scale of the commitment eclipses the combined capacity of the world’s leading AI data centres. It represents the largest infusion of capital into artificial‑intelligence infrastructure since the advent of the first commercial supercomputers.

The partnership will be executed through NVIDIA’s Vera Rubin platform, a next‑generation architecture designed to maximise throughput while minimising power consumption. The first phase of the deployment is targeted to come online in the second half of 2026.

Jensen Huang, founder and chief executive of NVIDIA, underscored the strategic significance of the deal, noting that the collaboration “marks the next leap forward—deploying 10 gigawatts to power the next era of intelligence.” Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, echoed this sentiment, describing compute infrastructure as the foundation for the future economy and emphasising that the partnership will enable both breakthrough research and scalable commercial applications. Greg Brockman, co‑founder and president of OpenAI, highlighted the long‑standing relationship between the two organisations, citing the use of NVIDIA’s platform in the development of ChatGPT and other widely deployed AI systems.

The letter of intent positions NVIDIA as OpenAI’s preferred strategic compute and networking partner, with both parties agreeing to co‑optimise their roadmaps for model and infrastructure software alongside NVIDIA’s hardware and software. By aligning hardware, software, and power delivery, the alliance aims to accelerate the training of increasingly sophisticated models while maintaining energy efficiency. The collaboration is expected to reinforce OpenAI’s mission to build artificial general intelligence that benefits all of humanity, leveraging the unprecedented scale of AI supercomputing to push the frontier of intelligence further than any previous endeavour.

First Phase to Go Live in Second Half of 2026 Using Vera Rubin Platform. The initial rollout of the joint effort is slated to commence in the latter half of 2026, with the Vera Rubin architecture serving as the backbone for the new compute infrastructure. Under the agreement signed in San Francisco and Santa Clara on 22 September 2025, NVIDIA has pledged up to $100 billion to support the deployment of a minimum of 10 gigawatts of GPU‑based processing power.

Jensen Huang described the collaboration as a pivotal step toward harnessing the next generation of intelligence, while Sam Altman stressed that the scale of compute will underpin the future economy. By delivering 10 gigawatts of sustained performance, the partnership aims to elevate AI supercomputing to a level that could accelerate the development of general‑intelligence systems and broaden the reach of AI applications across industries.