OpenAI Plans to Aim Robotics Program at Building More Data Centers

OpenAI plans to steer its robotics program toward building more data centers, CEO Sam Altman said, linking automation to the company’s effort to expand computing capacity but offering no deployment timeline.

Altman said OpenAI is learning to build data centers of its own. The robotics program, he said, is intended to focus on “making lots of data centers.”

He also described a concept involving AI-controlled robots that could operate factories and build turbines, solar panels and data centers. Altman called the idea “within grasp” and described the broader effort as a long-term solution. He used the phrase self-replicating data centers for the concept.

Permitting and component constraints came up, and Altman said robots could help make more components. He did not provide a deployment date, describe robot designs or specify the construction and manufacturing tasks the machines would perform.

OpenAI’s separate collaboration with Foxconn, announced Nov. 20, 2025, covers co-designing AI data-center racks and preparing U.S. manufacturing of infrastructure hardware. The initial agreement gave OpenAI early access to evaluate systems and an option to buy them, with no purchase commitments or financial obligations. The announcement did not say robots would be used in manufacturing.

OpenAI has also pursued a humanoid-robot effort, with a prototype demonstration expected in 2027. The data-center construction goal is a distinct development in the company’s robotics work.