OpenAI’s colossal AI data center targets would consume as much electricity as entire nation of India — 250GW target would require 30 million GPUs annually to ensure continuous operation, emit twice as much carbon dioxide as ExxonMobil

Stock image of a data center.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman released an internal memo last September 2025, stating that he plans to build up to 250 gigawatts of compute capacity by 2033. According to Truthdig, this is equivalent to the electricity required to power the entire nation of India and its 1.5 billion citizens. It would also emit twice the carbon dioxide that ExxonMobil produces, which the report says is the current “largest non-state carbon emitter” in the world.

Aside from carbon emissions from its data centers, the writer, Alistair Alexander, estimates that the 250 GW capacity is enough to support 60 million Nvidia GB300 GPUs. This means that OpenAI would have to order 30 million GPUs annually to ensure continuous operation. While Alexander claims this is because the cards are run 24/7, 365 days a year, and therefore have a short lifespan, the two-year life cycle of a GPU actually refers to its economic value, which drops with the release of newer generations of products. Either way, the number of GPUs required to power OpenAI's ambition will be staggering.