OpenAI Project Camellia (Effingham County, Georgia)

Name: OpenAI Project Camellia (Effingham County, Georgia)
Address: US

Announced

United States · 1 project · Last reported 2026-07-22

Summary

On July 22, 2026, OpenAI announced Project Camellia, a long-term AI data-centre campus it is designing and developing in the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub, Effingham County, Georgia. Georgia Power is to supply 3.2 GW in phases between 2028 and 2032. Effingham County records that OpenAI bought the property in July/August 2026. Its August 29 concept plan, still preliminary, shows four data-centre buildings across five planned phases. County and state reviews, approvals and permits remain before construction. The capacity and phase dates are forecasts. evidence

OpenAI · published 2026-07-22

Location

The interactive map needs JavaScript. Display anchor: 32.25854, -81.26299 (Point locator, WGS 84).

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Campus reference; individual project footprints are not mapped.

Projects (1)

OpenAI Project Camellia — planned AI data-centre campus

Announced last observed as of 2026-07-22 · Project announcement

The county's August 29, 2026 work-session presentation identifies the Project Camellia site as the Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub, the former Research Forest Tract acquired by the county Industrial Development Authority in 2006 and rezoned to I-1 industrial in 2012. It records that OpenAI entered into an MOU and purchased the property in July/August 2026, after the authority approved an incentive offer on July 21, 2026. A concept plan, with the final site plan still in development, shows four data-centre buildings (DC01 to DC04) along Effingham Parkway and the Gateway Parkway extension. The PILOT terms provide for five phases, with a guaranteed 400 jobs and USD 20 billion of capital investment, and the presentation says no on-site power generation is planned. evidence

Effingham County, Georgia · published 2026-08-29

The county's official Project Camellia repository refers to the land sale to OpenAI and the resulting Industrial Development Authority tax relief. It says the project has met initial requirements but must still pass county and state reviews, approvals, permits and inspections before construction, starting with zoning verification and the Development of Regional Impact review. It describes planned development in five phases. evidence

Effingham County, Georgia · publication date not stated

The project's official FAQ describes a full buildout of 3.2 GW, with phased development contemplated between 2028 and 2032 and initial capacity potentially from 2028. Site plan, infrastructure, phasing, design, permitting, financing and operating model are still being worked out. OpenAI is running a competitive process to select a partner to construct and operate the campus. The FAQ cites the project's Development of Regional Impact filing. evidence

OpenAI (Project Camellia) · publication date not stated

Companies

Owner: OpenAI (current) evidence

Source and location review

Status source

OpenAI: Building AI infrastructure with the Effingham County community (Internet Archive copy) evidence row
OpenAI · published 2026-07-22 · Company disclosure

Locator

Campus locator · Official source · official_county_parcel_service_centroid_matching_project_concept_plan evidence

Source checks

Not reviewed against imagery not_reviewed
No imagery review is recorded for this project. Its status rests only on the dated authoritative source. · no independent imagery verification

Status age at review: 97 days before the data update on 2026-10-27

Location details

Coordinates: 32.25854, -81.26299
Geometry licence: public-government-record-no-licence-stated
Use scope: Campus locator
Scope class: official_county_parcel_service_centroid_matching_project_concept_plan
Authority: Official source
Source entity: Campus
Method: effingham_county_parcels2024_featureserver_returnCentroid_outSR4326_parcel_04330001E00
Derivation: direct_geometry
Precision scope: County-service centroid of the largest of three parcels (about 740 acres) whose union matches the county's Project Camellia concept plan. It is a campus marker for the eastern block, planned for buildings DC01 and DC02. It does not mark a building, entrance, substation or the planned construction extent. The full site is about 1,444 acres across three parcels.
Horizontal uncertainty: Not reported
The county service publishes no positional accuracy. The selected parcel extends up to about 1.3 km from its centroid, and the final site plan is still in development.
Geometry evidence: fe06b508

A locator places the site on the map. It is not a building footprint, a construction extent or a surveyed boundary unless the use scope is an official boundary, and even then it is a parcel or permit boundary.

Evidence

Sources are linked, not redistributed; each keeps its own terms. An archived copy is a lookup for the Wayback Machine capture nearest the retrieval date and may be unavailable or differ from what was reviewed. Each hash states what it covers; imported factual records are not publisher-page captures.

Evidence for OpenAI Project Camellia (Effingham County, Georgia)
Title	Publisher	Roles	Published	Retrieved	Licence	Attribution	Content hash (SHA-256)
Effingham County Board of Commissioners work session: Project Camellia (August 29, 2026) Archived copy	Effingham County, Georgia Government record	Site and project identity, Owner claim	2026-08-29	2026-10-16	public-government-record-no-licence-stated	Effingham County, Georgia	`682d34091f313486a28565b62880c2a96268441e139ae17b9c7f6922aff32ca6` Retained source material; see source provenance
Effingham County parcel service: Savannah Gateway Industrial Hub parcels sold 2026-07-24 Archived copy	Effingham County, Georgia (GIS) Government record	Geometry	not stated	2026-10-16	public-government-record-no-licence-stated	Effingham County, Georgia GIS (Parcels2024 feature service)	`baf15f23a649bd9140a30c0bd54847052cc939a8ee28630fb83ae57de87349c0` Retained source material; see source provenance
Effingham County: Project Camellia (OpenAI Data Center) resource page Archived copy	Effingham County, Georgia Government record	Site and project identity	not stated	2026-10-16	public-government-record-no-licence-stated	Effingham County, Georgia	`d29dfb4295232232e6ac2c6cb6386c97c5ae3b18d74547e6f80523536aa6b188` Retained source material; see source provenance
OpenAI: Building AI infrastructure with the Effingham County community (Internet Archive copy) Archived copy	OpenAI Company disclosure	Project announcement	2026-07-22	2026-10-16	all-rights-reserved	OpenAI (via Internet Archive Wayback Machine snapshot 2026-10-07)	`56b9bd096ca13d30781ca693678f62ef3aa044852ca876d903bed71c3a1701d4` Retained source material; see source provenance
Project Camellia FAQ Archived copy	OpenAI (Project Camellia) Company disclosure	Site and project identity	not stated	2026-10-16	all-rights-reserved	OpenAI	`3dbcdd909ca6fe63b605df62131be60f901ab549e95fb82843e7797fe498150f` Retained source material; see source provenance

Cite this site

Kyars, K. (2026). OpenAI Project Camellia (Effingham County, Georgia) [site vcc-site-6d1cd988dd9b7c70c942]. In Data Center Atlas (2026-10-27) [Data set]. https://kiankyars.github.io/datacenter-atlas/sites/vcc-site-6d1cd988dd9b7c70c942/

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