OpenAI Signs Letter of Intent for 'Stargate Argentina' Data Center

OpenAI and Argentine energy firm Sur Energy have signed a Letter of Intent to explore a large-scale data center in Argentina — a project that, if built, would become the first Stargate-branded AI infrastructure initiative in Latin America.

The agreement follows discussions held last week in Buenos Aires between President Javier Milei, members of his cabinet, and an OpenAI delegation led by Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane. Under the framework described by OpenAI, Sur Energy would act as the energy and infrastructure developer and lead the formation of a consortium, including a partnership with a cloud infrastructure developer. OpenAI would take the role of a potential offtaker — a buyer of the data center's computing capacity.

The companies have not disclosed a projected investment amount, site location, or timeline for the project. The Letter of Intent signals intent to negotiate, not a final commitment.

Still, the stakes are significant. Stargate is OpenAI's flagship infrastructure program, and landing the first Latin American installation would position Argentina as a regional hub for AI compute at a moment when countries worldwide are competed to attract data center investment and the jobs, tax revenue, and technological capability that follow. Sur Energy says it plans to power the data-center ecosystem with "secure, efficient, and sustainable sources" — a reference to Argentina's considerable renewable energy potential, which the project's backers see as a core competitive advantage.

Why Argentina, and why now

OpenAI frames the deal as a response to demonstrated demand inside the country. Millions of Argentinians use ChatGPT each week, according to OpenAI, with adoption more than tripling over the past year. Usage is highest among young adults aged 18 to 34. The company cites these figures, published in its Argentina productivity report from October 2025, as evidence that Argentina is entering the AI era with "real momentum."

Argentina also ranks among the top Latin American countries for developers building on OpenAI's tools — which OpenAI presents as a sign that the country is "not just using AI, but shaping it." That developer ecosystem, combined with surging consumer adoption, makes Argentina what the company calls "a natural place to build the infrastructure that can unlock its full AI potential."

Government adoption in parallel

Beyond bricks and servers, OpenAI is negotiating a second track with the Argentine government: driving AI adoption within the public sector itself. Those talks fall under the company's "OpenAI for Countries" initiative, a program designed to pair infrastructure investment with government deployment of OpenAI's tools.

OpenAI says that in similar partnerships elsewhere, ChatGPT has helped government employees, administration staff, and research institutions accelerate daily work — cutting costs while improving services delivered to citizens. The company did not specify which Argentine agencies would participate, how the deployments would be procured, or what public funds might be involved.

The parallel structure matters. OpenAI's international strategy increasingly bundles data center commitments with government adoption of its products, a model that simultaneously expands the company's compute footprint and its customer base. For the Milei government, the arrangement aligns with a broader agenda of attracting foreign investment and positioning Argentina as a destination for advanced technology infrastructure rather than only a consumer of it.

What the principals said

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, cast the announcement in expansionary terms:

"This milestone is about more than just infrastructure, it's about putting AI into the hands of more people across Argentina. We're excited to work with Argentina as it builds toward becoming an AI hub for all of Latin America. President Milei's vision for how AI can drive Argentina's growth and creativity is unmistakable and strong. Stargate Argentina will help bring that vision to life."

Emiliano Kargieman, partner at Sur Energy, emphasized the pairing of energy resources with digital infrastructure:

"The Stargate Argentina project represents a historic opportunity for the country. It combines our unique renewable energy potential with the development of critical infrastructure for artificial intelligence on a global scale. This alliance turns Argentina into a relevant player in the world's new digital and energy map, creating quality jobs, attracting international investment, and demonstrating that innovation and energy can be complementary engines of sustainable development."

Kargieman's reference to the "world's new digital and energy map" points to the underlying logic of the deal: large AI data centers demand enormous, stable supplies of electricity, and jurisdictions with surplus clean power have become sought-after hosts for them. Argentina's renewable resources are the asset Sur Energy intends to monetize through the consortium.

The context that makes this consequential

Two forces converge in this announcement. The first is geopolitical: AI infrastructure is increasingly treated as strategic national capability, and OpenAI has been racing to line up compute capacity and government partnerships across multiple continents through its Stargate program and OpenAI for Countries initiative. A Latin American foothold extends that effort into a region where hyperscale AI data centers remain scarce.

The second is economic. For Argentina — a country with a history of energy abundance, chronic macroeconomic volatility, and a government elected on a platform of radical deregulation and foreign investment attraction — a Stargate-class project would represent exactly the kind of capital-intensive, export-oriented investment the Milei administration has promised to deliver. The project's backers explicitly frame it as a job creator and a magnet for international investment.

Whether it materializes depends on what the Letter of Intent becomes. OpenAI and Sur Energy have committed only to explore the project, with consortium formation, cloud partnerships, energy sourcing, and offtake terms still to be negotiated. The gap between an LOI and a financed, built gigawatt-scale data center is typically measured in years and billions of dollars.

If those negotiations succeed, Argentina would host the region's first Stargate facility, powered by renewable energy, serving demand that OpenAI's own data shows has tripled in a year — and the country would move from being one of ChatGPT's fastest-growing markets to a producer of the infrastructure that runs it.