Key Points
- OpenAI’s “Stargate” project is a massive infrastructure plan, involving a planned ¥3.5 trillion RMB ($500 billion USD) investment over four years to build a global network for AI.
- A global AI arms race is underway, with major powers committing hundreds of billions: China pledges over ¥1 trillion RMB ($140 billion USD), the US an initial ¥700 billion RMB ($100 billion USD), and the EU ¥1.57 trillion RMB (€200 billion EUR / $225 billion USD).
- Big tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta project a combined ¥2.24 trillion RMB ($320 billion USD) in capital expenditure for 2025 (a 39% increase from 2024).
- Chinese tech giants are also investing heavily, with ByteDance projecting over ¥150 billion RMB ($20.64 billion USD) for AI in 2025, and Alibaba plans to invest over ¥380 billion RMB ($52.28 billion USD) in cloud and AI infrastructure over the next three years.
- Power and Cooling systems are identified as critical, high-value components within AI Data Centers (AIDC) infrastructure, with liquid cooling specifically seen as essential for managing heat from powerful AI chips, an industry poised for a “golden age.”
OpenAI’s trillion-dollar AI infrastructure plan is no longer just a wild idea—it’s actively happening, and it’s sending massive shockwaves through the tech and investment world.
Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, is putting his money where his mouth is, signaling his intent to invest trillions of dollars into the hardware backbone needed to power the future of artificial intelligence.
This isn’t just talk. The scale of this ambition is already taking shape.
The “Stargate” Project: OpenAI’s $500 Billion Supercomputer Plan
The first major move just dropped.
In July, OpenAI locked in a colossal deal to lease 4.5 billion watts of computing power from Oracle.
The price tag? A staggering ¥210 billion RMB ($30 billion USD) annually.
This is one of the largest cloud service agreements ever in the AI space.
It’s all part of OpenAI’s much bigger “Stargate” data center project.
Here’s the breakdown of Stargate:
- The Goal: To build out a massive global network of AI infrastructure for OpenAI.
- The Investment: A planned ¥3.5 trillion RMB ($500 billion USD) over the next four years.
- The Purpose: To acquire the insane amount of computing power needed to train next-gen AI models and handle the exploding demand for services like ChatGPT.
And they aren’t going it alone.
In May, NVIDIA announced a partnership with tech heavyweights like G42, Oracle, SoftBank Group, and Cisco to launch Stargate UAE.
This new AI infrastructure hub in Abu Dhabi is slated to come online in 2026 and could be packed with 100,000 NVIDIA chips right out of the gate.
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It’s a Global AI Arms Race: The Spending is Exploding
A research report from Guosen Securities (Guoxin Zhengquan 国信证券) confirms what we’re seeing: the entire AI computing industry is set for sustained growth as infrastructure investment ramps up.
Major world powers are now throwing hundreds of billions of dollars into the pot, treating AI infrastructure as critical national infrastructure.
Check out these massive commitments announced since early 2025:
- China: China Construction Bank (Zhongguo Yinhang 中国银行) has pledged over ¥1 trillion RMB ($140 billion USD) in financial support.
- United States: An initial ¥700 billion RMB ($100 billion USD), set to expand to ¥3.5 trillion RMB ($500 billion USD) in the next four years.
- European Union: A hefty ¥1.57 trillion RMB (€200 billion EUR / $225 billion USD) has been allocated.
- France: The country has committed ¥836 billion RMB (€109 billion EUR / $123 billion USD).
Marvell, a key player in data infrastructure, projects that North American Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) alone will invest ¥4.165 trillion RMB ($595 billion USD) in 2025.
They see that figure potentially soaring to ¥7.154 trillion RMB ($1.022 trillion USD) by 2028. That’s a 20% compound annual growth rate (CAGR).
Big Tech Goes All-In: The Capital Expenditure (CapEx) Boom
It’s not just governments. The world’s biggest tech companies are opening their wallets like never before.
Overseas giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta have guided a combined capital expenditure of ¥2.24 trillion RMB ($320 billion USD) for fiscal year 2025.
That’s a 39% increase from 2024.
The story is the same in China, with domestic tech leaders showing massive year-over-year growth in CapEx.
- ByteDance (ByteDance 字节跳动): The parent company of TikTok projects over ¥150 billion RMB ($20.64 billion USD) in CapEx for 2025, with the vast majority aimed squarely at AI.
- Alibaba (Alibaba 阿里巴巴): Alibaba’s CapEx hit ¥24.6 billion RMB in Q1 2025, a 121% year-over-year jump. CEO Wu Yongming (Wu Yongming 吴泳铭) announced plans to invest over ¥380 billion RMB ($52.28 billion USD) in cloud and AI infrastructure over the next three years—more than the company spent in the entire previous decade.
- Tencent (Tengxun 腾讯): Tencent’s spending is also skyrocketing. They spent ¥36.6 billion RMB in Q4 2024 (a 386% YoY increase) and another ¥27.5 billion RMB in Q1 2025 (a 91% YoY increase).
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Who Wins? The Key Sectors Benefiting from the AI Gold Rush
So, where is all this money going?
Analysts at Guosen Securities see this spending as the start of a “long prosperity cycle” for AI infrastructure.
The spending is focused on what’s called AIDC (AI Data Center) infrastructure.
This industry chain can be broken down into two main parts:
- Basic Infrastructure: Think construction, power supply systems, and advanced cooling systems.
- IT Infrastructure: The “brains” inside, including AI chips, servers, networking gear, and storage devices.
Two areas stand out as high-value, critical components that are set to benefit deeply: Power and Cooling.
They recommend focusing on companies with rigid supply chains and strong relationships with the big spenders.
- Power Supply Chain: The focus here is on the main power source gas turbines, specifically hot-end blades and castings.
- Companies to watch: Yingliu Shares (Yingliu Gufen 应流股份), Homag Technology (Haomai Keji 豪迈科技).
- Cooling Systems: As chips get hotter, cooling becomes more critical. Look at liquid cooling, chiller units, and the compressor manufacturers that support them.
- Companies to watch: Binglun Environment (Binglun Huanjing 冰轮环境), Hanbell Precise Machinery (Hanzhong Jingji 汉钟精机), Liande Shares (Liande Gufen 联德股份), Tongfei Shares (Tongfei Gufen 同飞股份).
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Why Liquid Cooling Is the Hottest Niche in AI Infrastructure
You can’t have this much computing power without creating an insane amount of heat.
According to CBAK Energy Technology (Minsheng Zhengquan 民生证券), “power” and its by-product, heat, are the main bottlenecks holding back AI development.
As AI chips get more powerful, they get hotter. If you can’t cool them effectively, you can’t unlock their full performance.
This is where liquid cooling comes in.
Liquid cooling technology is the most effective solution to this problem and is seen as the key to solving the “power” bottleneck.
The market is already reacting. Just look at the recent performance of stocks in this sector:
- Dayuan Pumps (Dayuan Bengye 大元泵业): Up over 98% in just half a month.
- Invic (Yingweike 英维克): Soared 93.45%.
- Oulutong (Oulutong 欧陆通): Up 82.52% in only 5 days.
- Feilong Shares (Feilong Gufen 飞龙股份): Increased over 66%.
- Dayuan Pumps (Dayuan Bengye 大元泵业): Surged 98%+ in half a month.
- Invic (Yingweike 英维克): Rose by 93.45%.
- Oulutong (Oulutong 欧陆通): Increased by 82.52% in 5 days.
- Feilong Shares (Feilong Gufen 飞龙股份): Gained over 66%.
Analysts are bullish, predicting that the rapid development of AI will accelerate the adoption of liquid cooling, pushing the data center liquid cooling industry into a “golden age.”
The bottom line is clear: OpenAI’s trillion-dollar AI infrastructure plan is just the beginning of a massive, global spending spree that is creating generational opportunities for the companies building the picks and shovels of the AI revolution.
