OpenAI the organization behind ChatGPT is considering Utah as one of the potential locations for a new data center campus as part of its expansion plans. This new facility would be critical in supporting the company's growing artificial intelligence operations which require vast amounts of power.

The data center campus would be designed to operate within a 1gigawatt power range which is sufficient to power over 2,600 homes or illuminate around 100 million LED light bulbs.

Brandon the director of the Emerging Tech Policy Lab at Utah Valley University emphasized that AI technology is advancing rapidly and early adoption is key for benefiting from it. You either need to lead the way start implementing AI or someone else will he stated drawing a comparison to the early days of the internet. According to Brandon AI will eventually be implemented across all industries at every level.

Utah is one of the 16 states OpenAI is currently considering for its expansion. The company has started gathering proposals related to land, power supply engineers, and architects. OpenAI representatives are touring potential sites and a final decision is expected to be made later in the spring.

State leaders including Utah Senate President Stuart Adams have highlighted the importance of AI development. In his speech at the start of the 2025 legislative session, Adams called for prioritizing AI but also acknowledged the significant energy demands of data centers. AI requires data centers and data centers need power Adams said.

Utah has plans to triple its energy generation capacity by 2050 but it is still unclear whether that will be enough to meet the growing needs of AI infrastructure. In addition to power these data centers also require large quantities of water for cooling with some facilities consuming hundreds of thousands of gallons per day. This raises concerns particularly in regions prone to water shortages.