EFFINGHAM COUNTY, GA. — OpenAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) research and deployment company best known for ChatGPT, has announced plans for a new data center campus in Effingham County, approximately 30 miles northwest of Savannah.
Dubbed Project Camellia, the data center campus will cost at least $20 billion to develop in order for OpenAI to receive incentives, according to multiple news outlets. Bloomberg reports that the San Francisco-based company plans to spend as much as $30 billion on the project.
The site is located within Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub (SGIH), a master-planned industrial park by Broe Real Estate Group and OmniTRAX spanning 2,700 acres. SGIH is served by both CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines.
OpenAI has entered into a 25-year agreement with utilities provider Georgia Power Co., which will supply 3.2 gigawatts of power to the project. According to the two companies, OpenAI will pay all infrastructure and electric-service costs for the data center campus.
Additionally, OpenAI has pledged to provide $80 million in community benefits over the life of the project, as well as $71 million in Codex credits for eligible Georgia students. (Codex is OpenAI’s agentic coding tool that assists in building software and technical projects.)
OpenAI also reports that the project will create thousands of construction and permanent jobs in the area. The company plans to deliver Project Camellia in phases between 2028 and 2032. The development is not part of the company’s previously announced, $500 billion Stargate program of data centers.
The announcement comes amid increasing public pushback against data centers over the impacts on local residents. “To help ensure the project meets commitments, an annual publicly available audit by an independent firm will be conducted and released,” said OpenAI in a press release.
OpenAI is hosting a community open house at Effingham County College and Career Academy in Rincon, Ga., this evening to present Project Camellia.
— Hayden Spiess