Overview
- OpenAI announced Wednesday that it selected a 1,400-acre site in Effingham County for Project Camellia and described the plan as a roughly $20 billion private capital investment to build a self‑owned data center campus.
- Under a 25‑year supply and service arrangement with Georgia Power, OpenAI agreed to take about 3.2 gigawatts of capacity and to provide up to 1.0 gigawatt of flexible demand response while paying full infrastructure and electric‑service costs.
- OpenAI pledged local commitments including an $80 million community investment fund, up to $71 million in Codex credits for Georgia students, workforce and internship partnerships, and county officials project about 400 permanent on‑site jobs.
- Residents and environmental groups have raised concerns about limited public input and potential impacts on groundwater and local resources, and county officials have scheduled community meetings and an open house to share more details.
- The Effingham deal is the first major salvo in OpenAI’s broader push to build its own compute footprint as it raises infrastructure spending forecasts to roughly $750 billion through 2030 and as utilities plan new gas, battery, and solar capacity to meet very large AI loads.