OpenAI and Argentine firm Sur Energy have signed a letter of intent for a US$25-billion investment to build a massive artificial intelligence data centre in Argentina’s Patagonia region, with the project set to run under President Javier Milei’s RIGI incentive scheme. The deal, announced by Argentina’s government on Friday, October 10, 2025, puts state power, foreign capital, and corporate infrastructure in the same room while ordinary people are left to watch the bill and the consequences from below. **Who Has the Power** The project, named Stargate Argentina, will be the first of its kind in Latin America. It is designed to host the next generation of AI computing, with a capacity of up to 500 MW. The exact location and start date were not disclosed. The initiative will operate under President Javier Milei’s “Régimen de Incentivos para Grandes Inversiones” (RIGI) incentive scheme, which provides 30-year fiscal and customs benefits to attract foreign capital to strategic sectors. The project will be developed as a joint venture between Sur Energy and a global cloud infrastructure provider, with OpenAI serving as the primary buyer of computing capacity. That arrangement makes the hierarchy plain: the state hands out long-term benefits, the firms build the machine, and OpenAI buys the power. The announcement followed a meeting on Friday, October 10, 2025, involving President Javier Milei, top officials, and senior executives from OpenAI and Sur Energy. Demian Reidel, an advisor to President Milei and president of state-run Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA, which the government plans to part-privatise, also attended the meeting. **What They Call Development** President Milei’s office stated that the meeting reflected OpenAI’s interest in investing in technological infrastructure to expand the global reach of artificial intelligence, aligning with Argentina’s goal to become a sustainable innovation hub. That is the language of managed consent: a giant data centre, a pile of incentives, and a promise that the arrangement serves the public. OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said in a video message that Stargate Argentina is the company's first Stargate project in Latin America, a region he described as “full of talent, creativity and ambition,” emphasizing its role in making AI accessible across Argentina. Altman also mentioned meeting President Milei during his visit to San Francisco in 2024, noting Milei's “unmistakable and strong” vision for AI-driven growth in Argentina. Sur Energy, founded by Argentine entrepreneurs, will lead the energy and infrastructure aspects of the project, ensuring the data centre ecosystem is powered by secure, efficient, and sustainable sources. Emiliano Kargieman, a Sur Energy partner, stated that the project represents a “historic opportunity for the country,” combining Argentina’s renewable energy potential with critical AI infrastructure development. He added that this alliance positions Argentina as a key player in the new digital and energy landscape, creating high-quality jobs, attracting international investment, and demonstrating that innovation and energy can be complementary drivers of sustainable development. **The Bigger Machine** The partnership will also extend access to OpenAI technology across Argentina through the “OpenAI for Countries” initiative, beginning with government agencies to help public employees, administrators, and research institutions use AI to streamline work, reduce costs, and improve public services. The first users named are government agencies, public employees, administrators, and research institutions — the same apparatus that will be told this is efficiency. OpenAI has previously indicated its Stargate initiative involves an estimated US$500 billion in global investments for a worldwide network of next-generation data centres. In May 2025, Altman discussed OpenAI's plans to partner with national governments to enhance data centre capacity and customize the firm's products for specific languages and local needs. Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s number two, rejected the idea that such significant spending on AI infrastructure could be a bubble, calling it “the new reality” necessary to meet increasing user demand. Simo stated, “This is a massive investment in computing power at a time when we are desperately short of it for many of the applications people want,” and “I think the world is really going to change and realise that computing power is the most strategic resource.” The project’s exact location and start date were not disclosed, but the structure of power is already visible: a government incentive scheme, a state-linked official in the room, a corporate buyer at the center, and a massive data centre planned for Patagonia under the banner of innovation.
