Banks Line Up $38B to Fuel New OpenAI Sites as Oracle and Vantage Expand Footprint

On November 28, 2025, the Financial Times reported—echoed by Reuters—that a consortium of lenders is in talks to provide roughly $38 billion of debt to Oracle and Vantage Data Centers to build new U.S. sites serving OpenAI’s compute needs. If finalized, it would extend a financing wave behind OpenAI’s “Stargate” build-out and follow an $18 billion project-finance loan earlier this month for an Oracle‑linked campus in New Mexico, reported by Bloomberg. Together, these deals mark one of the biggest pushes yet to scale AI infrastructure in the U.S. in 2026–2028. Financial Times, Reuters, Bloomberg.

Conceptual illustration: a U.S. map with Texas, Wisconsin, and New Mexico glowing; fiber arcs connect to stylized bank skyscrapers and AI server icons

$38B

Debt package in talksSource: ft-2025-11-28

What changed—and why now

Banks led by JPMorgan and MUFG are preparing what would be the largest AI‑infrastructure loan on record to fund two Oracle‑tied campuses developed by Vantage Data Centers: one in Shackelford County, Texas, and another in Port Washington, Wisconsin. Previous Bloomberg reporting detailed the package split: about $23.25B (Texas) and $14.75B (Wisconsin). Bloomberg, Oct 23, 2025.
It comes on top of an $18B loan in early November to finance a separate Oracle‑linked campus in Doña Ana County, New Mexico—evidence that bank appetite for AI data‑center project finance is deepening. Bloomberg, Nov 7, 2025.
The backdrop: OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank unveiled five additional U.S. Stargate sites in September, taking the program to nearly 7 GW of planned capacity and over $400B of total investment “in the next three years,” with Oracle and OpenAI collaborating on up to 4.5 GW of that total. OpenAI.

~7 GW

Stargate planned capacitySource: openai-2025-09-23

Where the money is going: Texas and Wisconsin

Texas (Shackelford County) — “Frontier” mega‑campus

Vantage has announced a $25B+ investment to build “Frontier,” a 1.4‑gigawatt campus spanning 10 data centers and 3.7 million square feet, with first delivery slated for 2H 2026. The site is designed for ultra‑high‑density liquid cooling to accommodate next‑gen GPU racks. Vantage, Reuters.

Wisconsin (Port Washington) — “Lighthouse” campus

The partners plan a $15B+ campus providing close to 1 gigawatt of AI capacity across four buildings, targeting completion in 2028. Vantage says the site will be “water‑positive,” matched with zero‑emissions energy, and LEED‑certified, with more than 4,000 union construction jobs and 1,000+ long‑term roles. Vantage, Business Wire, Data Center Dynamics.

Key projects and financing

Site (nickname)	Developer / Operator	Reported capacity	Financing status	Lead banks (reported)	Key milestones
Shackelford County, TX (“Frontier”)	Vantage Data Centers (for Oracle/OpenAI)	1.4 GW	Part of ~$23.25B facility under the ~$38B package	JPMorgan, MUFG (leads)	First building 2H 2026 Vantage, Bloomberg
Port Washington, WI (“Lighthouse”)	Vantage Data Centers (for Oracle/OpenAI)	~0.9 GW	Part of ~$14.75B facility under the ~$38B package	JPMorgan, MUFG (leads)	Completion in 2028 Vantage, Bloomberg
Doña Ana County, NM (Project Jupiter, Stargate)	STACK Infrastructure/partners (Oracle‑linked)	Not disclosed; part of Oracle–OpenAI 4.5 GW expansion	~$18B project‑finance loan closed Nov 2025	SMBC, BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs, MUFG (admins)	Approvals and site work progressing Bloomberg, STACK

How Oracle and Vantage are expanding their AI footprint

Oracle and OpenAI extended their partnership in 2024 to run OpenAI workloads on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), augmenting capacity alongside Microsoft Azure. Oracle.
OCI is being built out with NVIDIA’s latest architectures (GB200 Grace Blackwell and Blackwell B200), including GB200 NVL72 systems across OCI Supercluster and DGX Cloud on OCI. Oracle–NVIDIA (2024), Oracle–NVIDIA (2025).
In September, OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank detailed five new Stargate sites (Texas, New Mexico, Midwest/Wisconsin, plus sites led by SoftBank in Ohio and Milam County, TX), putting Stargate “ahead of schedule” toward a 10‑GW goal. OpenAI.

1.4 GW

Frontier campus capacitySource: vantage-2025-08-19

Why it matters for automation and AI productivity

More compute generally unlocks faster training cycles, larger context windows, richer multimodal workflows, and lower inference latencies. For automation leaders, that translates to:

Quicker iteration on agentic AI and orchestration—especially when paired with OCI’s NVIDIA‑powered stacks and database integrations. Oracle–NVIDIA.
Improved reliability and regional redundancy as capacity spreads beyond traditional hubs to Texas, the Midwest, and the Southwest.
Potentially better unit economics as supply tightness eases—though pricing will still track GPU availability, power costs, and utilization.

The financing model—and the risk picture

FT’s analysis notes OpenAI’s partners have amassed nearly $100B of debt for infrastructure—with additional packages (like this $38B) still in the works—while OpenAI itself avoids taking most of that debt on its own balance sheet. That structure relies on long‑term leases and complex project‑finance vehicles shouldering construction and early‑operation risk. Financial Times.

For lenders and operators, the key sensitivities are: GPU supply timing, interconnection queues, power‑market volatility, and utilization ramp. For buyers of AI services, the main watch‑outs are contract lock‑ins and how quickly these campuses translate into usable capacity in their regions.

Building responsibly: power, water, and community benefits

Vantage has emphasized sustainability commitments at Lighthouse (Port Washington): matched zero‑emissions power (with new local generation and storage), closed‑loop liquid cooling to reduce water use, biodiversity net‑gain measures, and a $3M watershed restoration initiative with local partners. Business Wire, Vantage.

These projects also carry meaningful labor and economic impacts: Wisconsin alone expects more than 4,000 union construction jobs and over 1,000 long‑term roles, with infrastructure upgrades funded by the developer. Vantage.

A modern, sustainable data center scene: liquid cooling manifolds, solar arrays, wind turbines, and battery containers in the background; diverse union tradespeople on site

Bottom line

If completed, the $38B financing would cement 2025 as the year AI infrastructure project finance went mainstream, with Oracle and Vantage at the center of the build.
For enterprise automation teams, the practical signal is clear: capacity is coming online in waves between late 2026 and 2028—plan your models, data pipelines, and budgets accordingly.