{"id":35678,"date":"2026-06-07T05:53:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:53:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/walbridge-breaks-ground-on-16b-stargate-data-center\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T05:53:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T12:53:17","slug":"walbridge-breaks-ground-on-16b-stargate-data-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/walbridge-breaks-ground-on-16b-stargate-data-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Walbridge breaks ground on $16B Stargate data center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?313321260226\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<\/p>\n<p>            <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">3 min<\/span><\/p>\n<p>    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/text-to-speech.divecdn.com\/newspost\/821972\/2026-06-04_10.15.09\/walbridge-breaks-ground-stargate-data-center-openai-oracle.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Dive Brief:<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>OpenAI, Oracle, contractor Walbridge and other partners officially broke ground Monday on a <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/openai.com\/index\/stargate-michigan-data-center\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>multibillion-dollar data center campus<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in Saline, Michigan, according to an OpenAI news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>The $16 billion project, dubbed The Barn, will comprise three single-story data center buildings with more than <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oracle.com\/news\/announcement\/related-digital-oracle-openai-walbridge-and-governor-whitmer-celebrate-construction-of-stargate-campus-in-saline-township-2026-06-01\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>1 gigawatt of capacity<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, according to a news release from Oracle.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>The campus forms part of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/stargate-5-new-data-center-sites\/761424\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>OpenAI\u2019s Stargate initiative<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, a nationwide effort to expand artificial intelligence computing infrastructure.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Dive Insight:<\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The groundbreaking comes as developers spend unprecedented amounts of money to build data center facilities, even as some <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/tech\/ai\/americas-data-center-build-out-is-falling-way-behind-schedule-e408a9a8?mod=hp_lead_pos1\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>projects fall behind completion schedules<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, The Wall Street Journal reported.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Supply chain hurdles and energy constraints have slowed construction timelines. Community opposition can ultimately <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/data-center-project-cancellations-power-public-pushback\/818157\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>block all activity on a site<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In Michigan, The Barn\u2019s groundbreaking runs counter to that trend. The project ranks as the single largest economic investment in state history, according to Oracle.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In addition to OpenAI, Oracle and Detroit-based general contractor Walbridge, other partners include Related Digital and Blackstone. In April, Related Digital announced financing had been secured for the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blackstone.com\/news\/press\/related-digital-announces-financing-for-16-billion-oracle-data-center-project-in-saline-township-michigan\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>$16 billion data center campus project<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, according to a news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Walbridge helped develop what the project\u2019s stakeholders described as a first-in-the-nation project labor agreement, executed under the National Maintenance Agreement, which covers all 14 signatory affiliated skilled trade unions. Approximately 700 union tradespeople will work on the 250-acre site.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cWalbridge has been building in Michigan for more than a century, and we\u2019re proud to continue that legacy here in Washtenaw County,\u201d Mike Haller, CEO of Walbridge, said in the release. \u201cWe\u2019re excited to be part of the team delivering the advanced infrastructure that will power the next generation of AI and innovation.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The Saline campus is also the first data center built under the memorandum of understanding between OpenAI and North America\u2019s Building Trades Unions, according to the Oracle news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cProjects like this demonstrate what is possible when workforce strategy is part of project planning from the very beginning,\u201d Sean McGarvey, president of NABTU, said in the release. \u201cThe demand for AI and data center infrastructure is growing rapidly, and the Building Trades and our contractor partners have spent decades preparing the skilled workforce, training capacity, and industry partnerships needed to build this next generation of infrastructure safely, efficiently, and at scale.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Construction is currently underway on all three data center halls with the first 550,000-square-foot facility nearing completion, according to Oracle.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/walbridge-breaks-ground-stargate-data-center-openai-oracle\/821972\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 3 min This audio is auto-generated. 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Dive &#8230; <a title=\"Walbridge breaks ground on $16B Stargate data center\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/walbridge-breaks-ground-on-16b-stargate-data-center\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Walbridge breaks ground on $16B Stargate data center\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}