Business News – February 9, 2025

1 - OpenAI is combing through over a dozen U.S. states for ideal spots to establish ‘somewhere between 5 to 10’ Stargate AI data centers

Matt O'Brien and The Associated Press. February 6, 2025.

OpenAI is scouring the U.S. for sites to build a network of huge data centers to power its artificial intelligence technology, expanding beyond a flagship Texas location and looking across 16 states to accelerate the Stargate project championed by President Donald Trump.

The maker of ChatGPT put out a request for proposals for land, electricity, engineers and architects and began visiting locations in Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin this week.

Trump touted Stargate, a newly formed joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank, shortly after returning to the White House last month.

The partnership said it is investing $100 billion — and eventually up to $500 billion — to build large-scale data centers and the energy generation needed to further AI development. Trump called the project a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” under his new administration, though the first project in Abilene, Texas, has been under construction for months.

Elon Musk, a Trump adviser and fierce rival of OpenAI who’s in a legal fight with the company and its CEO Sam Altman, has publicly questioned the value of Stargate’s investments.

After Trump’s announcement, a number of states reached out to OpenAI about welcoming additional data centers, Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s vice president of global affairs, told reporters Thursday.

The company’s request for proposals calls for sites with “proximity to necessary infrastructure including power and water.”

AI uses vast amounts of energy, much of which comes from burning fossil fuels, which causes climate change. Data centers also typically draw in large amounts of water for cooling.

OpenAI’s proposal makes no mention of whether it intends to prioritize renewable energy sources such as wind or solar to power the data centers, but it says electricity providers should have a plan to manage carbon emissions and water usage. The first Texas project is in a region Abilene’s mayor has described to The Associated Press as rich in multiple energy sources, including wind, solar and gas.

“There’s some sites we’re looking at where we want to help be part of the process that brings new power to that site, either from new gas deployment or other means,” said Keith Heyde, who directs OpenAI’s infrastructure strategy.

The other states where OpenAI is actively looking include Arizona, California, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Utah, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia. Heyde said the company only plans to build “somewhere between five to 10” campuses in total, depending on how large each one is.

Amazon’s profit is suddenly going through the roof, fueling CEO Andy Jassy’s $100 billion AI spending spree to fight Google and Microsoft

Jason Del Rey. Fortune. February 6, 2025.

For much of Amazon’s early history, investors and competitors knocked the online retailer for its seeming inability to generate profits. Even as recently as 2014, just a decade ago, the tech giant was unprofitable.

But after posting a record-breaking $20 billion in profits during the fourth quarter of 2024 alone, almost double its $10.6 billion from the same quarter the prior year, Amazon is once again looking like the version of itself that many of its rivals should fear. And with that profit engine revved up and feeding an enormous cash buffer, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is doubling down in the industry’s AI infrastructure arms race.

Jassy told analysts on an earnings call Thursday that Amazon will spend around $100 billion or more on capital expenses in 2025, up at least 20% from 2024. The “vast majority” of this year’s capex will go toward supporting Amazon’s broad and deep investments into artificial intelligence infrastructure as the tech giant competes for what Jassy called “probably the biggest

Episode 4074 - Feb 10 - Tiếng Anh - Tin Kinh doanh - Ngày 9 tháng 2, 2025 - Vina Technology at AI time

Vina Technology at AI time - Công nghệ Việt Nam thời AI

Episode 4074 - Feb 10 - Tiếng Anh - Tin Kinh doanh - Ngày 9 tháng 2, 2025 - Vina Technology at AI time