OpenAI Stargate Lordstown data center, Lordstown, Ohio

SoftBank is building a small proof-of-concept AI data center for OpenAI's Stargate program at the former General Motors plant, 2300 Hallock-Young Road in Lordstown, Trumbull County, Ohio. OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank named Lordstown as a Stargate site in September 2025. The project is under construction, but in April 2026 the research group Epoch AI reported only limited site clearing, put its likely capacity under three tenths of a gigawatt, and listed its finish date as unknown.

The data center is part of a larger SoftBank push at the plant. A SoftBank-affiliated company, Crescent Dune LLC, bought the 6.2 million square foot factory from Foxconn for $375 million in 2025, and the two companies are setting up a joint venture there to make equipment for Stargate data centers. Trumbull County Commissioner Rick Hernandez said SoftBank told him the plant could employ up to 1,700 workers, including about 400 already working there for Foxconn.

The village has also fought a different data center proposal next door. Bristolville 25 Developer LLC filed plans in October 2025 for a $3.6 billion, 1,650,000 square foot campus on 133 acres of industrial land near the old GM plant. The Lordstown Village Council banned data centers on November 3, 2025, repealed the ban a month later, and on January 5, 2026 imposed a 180-day moratorium on new data center applications instead.

Bristolville 25 has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to force the village to review its site plan under the rules that were in place when it was filed. The village says the application was incomplete, missing stormwater plans, utility information and wetland studies. Residents at public meetings raised concerns about the water and electricity demands of data centers, cooling noise, and the lack of long-term jobs compared with manufacturing.

On June 15, 2026, the Lordstown Village Council voted to extend the moratorium another 180 days, through about January 1, 2027, while consultant Brian Frantz helps write zoning rules on setbacks, noise, water use and lighting for future data center applications. The Ohio Supreme Court has not yet ruled on Bristolville 25's case.