OpenAI downgrades Stargate Argentina to 'potential offtaker' status

OpenAI has told the Financial Times it is only a "potential offtaker" for the 500 MW Stargate Argentina data center, distancing itself from the $25 billion project President Javier Milei announced in October 2025. Any purchase would depend on Sur Energy actually developing the site. That developer commitment does not yet exist in public form.

The gap between announcement and contract defines this story. Argentina's government presented Stargate Argentina as a $25 billion investment under its RIGI large-investment regime, which grants 30 years of tax and customs benefits. OpenAI's language, however, describes an option, not an obligation. The strongest number in the pitch rests on a deal nobody has signed.

How small is Argentina's starting point?

Very small. Argentina has less than 40 MW of data-center capacity, against roughly 400 MW in Chile, the FT reported. The headline projects, if built, would multiply that base several hundredfold. The comparison with Chile sets the competitive benchmark, and Argentina starts a decade behind.

An energy executive planning an AI power facility in rural Argentina told the FT he was flooded with calls from U.S. investors and clients after the Nov. 3 midterms. Argentina is "coming late to the party" but has "huge potential to catch up," he said. Catch-up, in this industry, requires power and customers, and neither is secured.

What is Milei actually offering?

Milei told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington: "We are not going to regulate artificial intelligence." His legislative proposal would cut the corporate income tax rate to 15% from 25% for AI and other emerging-industry projects worth at least $1 billion, according to Semafor. The data-center regime has passed the lower house and now awaits Senate approval, the FT reported.

Two caveats follow the promise. First, the Senate has not voted. Second, the government said in September that new large projects in any industry must provide infrastructure for 80% of their own electricity. A tax break arrives with a self-supply obligation attached, and that obligation shapes project economics more than the tax rate does.

Which projects exist beyond the announcement?

All are early, and none has a confirmed hyperscale tenant:

• Green Capital, a Polish renewable developer, plans a $3 billion campus near Trelew in Chubut, powered by wind, solar and gas, to lease to large tech companies. It has no customer yet, and construction is not expected before around 2028, the Associated Press reported.
• Pampa Energía said in October it had 800 MW of capacity available for a data center in Neuquén.
• Unblock Energy runs a 12 MW site in Neuquén on gas that would otherwise be flared, the FT reported.

The pattern is consistent. Capacity announcements outnumber signed leases. The largest operator in the country today runs 12 MW.

Why is the pitch landing now?

Timing, not technology. U.S. voters backed data-center limits in 40 of 41 local measures on Nov. 3, and opposition has spread abroad. Milei is pitching Argentina as a regulation-free alternative, touting its "abundant energy" and "extensive, inhospitable land," Semafor reported. The sales argument depends on political friction in the United States continuing.

Domestic resistance is forming anyway. Environmental researchers in Argentina argue the computing capacity would serve foreign companies rather than the country, saying it "will be exported wherever OpenAI or the other companies need it." The same local backlash that pushed U.S. firms abroad could follow them south.

What determines what happens next?

Three things: Senate approval of the 15% tax rate, a binding commitment from OpenAI or another hyperscaler, and Sur Energy's decision to build. None is confirmed. Until a customer signs for capacity at Stargate Argentina or Green Capital's Chubut campus, the country's data-center ambitions remain a roadmap backed by under 40 MW of installed reality.