2026 is going to be a pivotal year for advancing AI in America. Oracle is excited to be part of this mission. We’re building the AI infrastructure needed to unlock new cures for diseases, enable scientific breakthroughs, and drive significant economic growth. 

Already, we have AI infrastructure projects underway in partnership with OpenAI at two campuses in Texas and sites in New Mexico, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The communities we’re a part of – Abilene, Shackelford County, Doña Ana County, Port Washington, and Saline Township – are trailblazers. They are playing a critical role in our country’s future, fortifying American leadership in AI for generations to come.

As construction concludes and as we move into these campuses, we will become part of these communities ourselves. We are committed to ensuring that our AI data centers enrich these communities and improve the lives of residents, who should never have to sacrifice their standard of living or put their natural resources at risk. We’re able to do this because the AI data centers we’re building with our partners to run Oracle Cloud Infrastructure today are designed differently in 2026 than previously:

Yes, AI data centers require more power, but they are either built with their own on-site power generation sources on or near the campus, or we’re paying for any grid upgrades we require in partnership with the local utility. Oracle is committed to paying our own way on energy. We’re funding new onsite transmission lines, battery storage, and dedicated substations to maintain energy reliability and ensure these costs are not passed on to ratepayers.

At campuses where we share the grid with the community, our investments will improve the durability and availability of power, and as a large customer we will more than contribute our share to ensuring the utility has a stable grid.

Our AI data centers also include a massive number of chips that have to be cooled. We now use closed-loop non-evaporative cooling systems, which means our data center buildings won’t draw down a community’s water resources to cool our servers the way data centers without closed-loop systems do. Water usage in these buildings are now on par with a typical office building.

Our AI data centers will always have neighboring property, and concerns about noise or unsightliness are valid. But our sites today have extensive landscape screening and setbacks, often including large amounts of untouched acreage surrounding the buildings. Our technology running within these setbacks emit noise levels equivalent to normal farming operations. And we extensively plan for increased use of local roads and fund necessary infrastructure upgrades. While data centers in the past may have been built next door to a subdivision, this isn’t our approach.

As demand for AI infrastructure has grown, so has the number of people needed – first to build the sites and second to run them. Oracle is committed to sourcing and hiring locally to the greatest extent possible. The sites we are currently developing will employ tens of thousands of people during the construction phase and thousands during operation. On average, a site that uses around 1 gigawatt of energy will require more than 1,000 permanent employees.

Oracle recognizes that when we enter a community, we have an obligation to be a good citizen. Providing technical skills training and workforce development, supporting local charities, and engaging in the life of the community are all commitments we make and take seriously.

The AI infrastructure being built in 2026 is vitally important for America’s position of leadership in the world. We are proud to be part of it in responsible partnership with communities across the country.