OpenAI asks U.S. for loan guarantees to fund $1T AI expansion (investinglive.com)

OpenAI told a Wall Street Journal conference that it is exploring U.S. federal loan guarantees to help fund an AI computing expansion that could exceed $1 trillion. CFO Sarah Friar said guarantees would lower borrowing costs and unlock a wider mix of lenders — “an ecosystem of banks, private equity, maybe even governmental” participants — by protecting lenders from losses. The push comes alongside massive capital commitments already announced, including a $300 billion deal with Oracle and a $500 billion “Stargate” data‑center venture with Oracle and SoftBank; Friar also said an IPO “is not on the cards right now.” The move is significant because it reframes AI compute as national-scale infrastructure and signals an unusual public-private financing model for a Silicon Valley firm. Technical and market implications include massively expanded data‑center and GPU capacity, intensified demand on energy and supply chains, and greater concentration of compute resources with strategic and regulatory implications. Federal backing could speed buildouts by lowering finance costs, but would also raise questions about government involvement in privately run AI infrastructure, competition, and long‑term operational risks given OpenAI’s revenues (tens of billions projected) remain small relative to the required capital outlays.