SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank on Tuesday announced five new U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) data center sites under their joint AI infrastructure platform, Stargate.

The combined capacity of these five new sites -- together with the flagship facility in Abilene, Texas, and ongoing projects with Corewave -- will bring Stargate's planned capacity to nearly 7 gigawatts and push total investment to over 400 billion U.S. dollars within the next three years, according to the announcement.

In July, OpenAI and Oracle reached an agreement to develop three of the new sites, located in Texas, New Mexico, and the Midwest. The other two sites will be developed through a partnership between SoftBank and OpenAI, with locations in Ohio and Texas.

The five new projects were selected through a rigorous nationwide process launched in January. The companies said they reviewed more than 300 proposals from over 30 states, adding that Tuesday's announcement represents only the first set of sites, with additional U.S. locations to follow.

OpenAI had announced in January that it was teaming up with SoftBank and Oracle to build multiple AI data centers across the United States under the Stargate venture.

The companies said they expect to commit 100 billion dollars in initial funding, with total investment in Stargate projected to reach 500 billion dollars over the next four years.

"Together with Oracle, SoftBank, and our other partners, we're turning a 500 billion dollar, 10-gigawatt commitment into large-scale physical infrastructure, jobs in communities across the country, and compute that will unlock the next generation of AI breakthroughs," OpenAI said on Tuesday.