ChatGPT maker OpenAI said on Thursday that Texas will be the flagship data center site in the Stargate project it is building with SoftBank.Around 16 states have indicated interest in building data centers for Stargate, an OpenAI executive said on a conference call.Stargate plans to invest up to $500 billion to help the United States stay ahead of China and other competitors in the global AI race.In January, President Donald Trump announced the private sector investment initiative to fund AI infrastructure, aiming to outpace rival nations in this critical business technology.Stargate will build data centers and create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States, Trump said.These companies, along with other equity backers of Stargate, have committed $100 billion for immediate deployment, with the remaining investment expected to occur over the next four years.The initial data centers for the project are already under construction in Texas, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison had said then.Juby Babu, Akash Sriram, and Anna Tong, Reuters