![\"Tia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/5b2f3f92-c942-4fdd-ad39-f4300844d99e_1705700161.file.png\")
<\/a>EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Ga. \u2014<\/p>\nA quiet stretch of land along McCall Road could soon become the site of one of the largest artificial intelligence projects in the country.<\/p>\n
OpenAI announced plans to build a $20 billion data center campus on more than 1,400 acres in Effingham County’s Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub, a project local leaders say will reshape the county’s economy for decades.<\/p>\n
Construction is expected to begin in 2028 and continue through 2032.<\/p>\n
County leaders say the development will bring hundreds of high-paying jobs, expand the local tax base and generate new revenue for schools and infrastructure.<\/p>\n
“This project has the potential to change the financial future of Effingham County in ways that will benefit our citizens for generations,” County Manager Tim Callanan said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Officials say the project will initially create about 400 six-figure jobs, with employment expected to grow to more than 1,000 jobs by the time the campus is fully built out.<\/p>\n
Leaders also say the additional tax revenue could help fund county services and potentially eliminate homestead property taxes through the county’s “Project Zero” initiative.<\/p>\n
Power demand and water use<\/p>\n
The proposed campus is expected to require about 3,200 megawatts of electricity, which will be supplied by Georgia Power.<\/p>\n
Georgia Power says OpenAI will pay the full cost of the electric infrastructure needed to serve the facility and has agreed to reduce its energy use during periods of peak demand to help maintain grid reliability.<\/p>\n
Water usage, however, remains an open question.<\/p>\n
OpenAI representatives said the company has not yet finalized how much water the campus will need or where that water will come from.<\/p>\n
“Once we know timeframes of how things will get built, then you can back into how much water you would use,” an OpenAI representative said.<\/p>\n
Public concerns<\/p>\n
The announcement comes as large data centers have faced growing scrutiny across Georgia over their demand for electricity, water and other infrastructure.<\/p>\n
Some residents have also questioned why the project was not announced earlier.<\/p>\n
OpenAI said discussions with local leaders have been underway for about six months.<\/p>\n
When asked why residents were not informed sooner, county leaders said they plan to address those concerns during a public meeting Thursday night.<\/p>\n
OpenAI also pushed back on the idea that the project is already finalized.<\/p>\n
“It’s not for us to say it’s a done deal,” an OpenAI representative said. “It is for us to go earn the trust and right to be able to keep moving forward on the ground in Effingham.”<\/p>\n
Under Georgia law, a private development of this type does not require voter approval.<\/p>\n
Effingham County leaders are encouraging residents to attend Thursday night’s open house to learn more about the project and ask questions as planning moves forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OpenAI plans $20 billion data center campus in Effingham County’s Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub OpenAI has not finalized…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[58859,58812,58923,34844,58922,90,2389,58925,58926,58928,85,58929,633,58739,58924,12228,2981,50616,57212,58861,205,58919,58927,157,58930,10361,58931,58862,58920,58932,55978,58918,58705,58921,2695],"class_list":["post-115715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-20-billion","tag-58812","tag-200-megawatts","tag-34844","tag-400-acres","tag-ai-campus","tag-campus","tag-construction-2028","tag-construction-2032","tag-county-leader","tag-data-center","tag-datum-center-campus","tag-development","tag-effingham-county","tag-electric-infrastructure","tag-electricity","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-power","tag-high-paying-jobs","tag-homestead-property-taxes","tag-infrastructure","tag-mccall-road","tag-much-water","tag-openai","tag-peak-demand","tag-project","tag-project-local-leader","tag-project-zero","tag-public-meeting","tag-public-meeting-thursday-night","tag-resident","tag-savannah-gateway","tag-savannah-gateway-industrial-hub","tag-thursday-night","tag-water-usage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}