Oracle denies reports of trouble at the Abilene data center

Investing.com - Oracle Corporation (NYSE:ORCL) has refuted recent media reports about its flagship AI data center in Abilene, Texas, stating that the facility is still on track and that the company has secured the full 4.5 gigawatts of capacity promised to OpenAI. Despite Oracle’s denial, amid a broad market downturn, Oracle Financial Software’s stock fell 1.2% in pre-market trading, closing at $152.96.

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Bloomberg reported on March 6 that Oracle and OpenAI have abandoned plans to expand the Abilene facility, citing prolonged financing negotiations and changing demands from OpenAI. The report also noted that Meta Platforms is considering leasing expansion space from developer Crusoe, while Nvidia is facilitating discussions and has paid a $150 million deposit.

Oracle stated: “Crusoe and Oracle are working closely to deliver one of the world’s largest AI data centers in Abilene at record speed. Two buildings are fully operational, and the rest of the campus is progressing as planned.” A Crusoe spokesperson confirmed separately: “Crusoe and Oracle are working closely to deliver one of the world’s largest AI factories in Abilene. Our collaboration allows us to deliver large-scale infrastructure faster than any other company in the industry.”

Oracle also responded regarding its commitment to OpenAI, saying the company “has completed an additional 4.5 gigawatts of leasing to fulfill our commitment to OpenAI,” but did not specify the locations of capacity beyond Abilene. The company did not directly address reports of reliability issues earlier this year when cooling systems went offline for several days due to winter weather.

The Abilene project was announced last year at the White House alongside President Donald Trump and is part of the $500 billion Stargate AI initiative involving Oracle, OpenAI, and SoftBank. The initial expansion plan would increase capacity from 1.2 gigawatts to approximately 2.0 gigawatts.

Market Context

Oracle’s cloud infrastructure business has been a growth driver, with total cloud revenue soaring 33% to $8 billion in Q2 FY2026, now accounting for half of the company’s total revenue. The company has signed remaining performance obligations related to its cloud infrastructure business worth $68 billion, reflecting strong AI-driven demand.

Key Points to Watch

Oracle plans to release quarterly earnings on March 10, with Polymarket indicating a 77.5% probability that the company will beat expectations. Investors may seek clarification on:

At this time, competition in AI infrastructure is intensifying. On Monday, UK-based AI company Nscale, supported by Nvidia, raised $200 million at a valuation of $14.6 billion to expand data center capacity and serve clients including Microsoft and OpenAI.

This article was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. For more information, see our Terms of Use.