Under the deal, Hitachi will supply power transmission and distribution equipment to OpenAI’s data centers

In sum – what to know: 

Hitachi power – Hitachi will supply transmission and distribution systems to OpenAI, helping to reduce energy consumption across its global AI infra network.

Stargate project – Hitachi joins SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX in the Stargate initiative to scale compute capacity through energy-efficient data center design.

LLM integration – OpenAI’s model will be embedded into Hitachi’s Lumada platform to enhance digital operations and drive AI innovation across industries. 

U.S. AI company OpenAI has entered into a partnership with Japanese industrial giant Hitachi to develop energy-efficient power infrastructure for AI data centers worldwide.

Under the deal, Hitachi will supply power transmission and distribution equipment to OpenAI’s data centers and contribute energy-saving technologies to the company’s Stargate project — a $500 billion multi-year initiative launched in January with SoftBank, Oracle, and other partners.

The collaboration will also explore sourcing IT hardware such as storage systems from Hitachi. As part of the agreement, the AI firm will provide Hitachi with access to its large language model (LLM), which Hitachi plans to integrate into its Lumada digital platform to enhance operational analytics and explore new applications.

Last month, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank announced five new U.S. data center sites under the Stargate initiative. OpenAI said that the expansion brings Stargate’s total planned capacity to almost 7GW, with more than $400 billion in investment already committed — placing the initiative on track to reach its $500 billion, 10GW target by the end of 2025, ahead of schedule.

Three of the new facilities are being developed through OpenAI’s partnership with Oracle: in Shackelford County, Texas; Doña Ana County, New Mexico; and a Midwest location yet to be confirmed.

Two additional sites are being developed with SoftBank. One in Lordstown, Ohio, is already under construction and slated to open next year. The second, in Milam County, Texas, will be built with SB Energy, SoftBank’s renewables arm.

Earlier this month, Samsung, SK, and OpenAI announced new strategic partnerships as part of the latter’s Stargate initiative. These partnerships will focus on increasing the supply of advanced memory chips essential for next-generation AI and expanding data center capacity in Korea.