OpenAI and Oracle commit to union-built Stargate data center in Michigan

AIData centers

22 Apr

The Saline Township campus will be the first data center built under OpenAI's memorandum of understanding with North America's Building Trades Unions, creating more than 2,500 jobs.

Rows of illuminated server racks in a data center, representing the Stargate Michigan campus being built by OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital with union labor — The Stargate data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan, known as The Barn, will be the first data center built under OpenAI's memorandum of understanding with North America's Building Trades Unions, employing more than 2,500 tradespeople and apprentices

OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital have signed a labor agreement with North America's Building Trades Unions (NABTU) to build the Stargate data center campus in Saline Township, Michigan, in a deal expected to employ more than 2,500 tradespeople and apprentices.

The agreement, announced at NABTU's Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C. on April 20, 2026, makes the Michigan site the first data center to be built under the memorandum of understanding signed between OpenAI and NABTU last month.

The Stargate campus, called The Barn, is a multibillion-dollar project covered by the National Maintenance Agreement, meaning construction will be carried out by the 14 signatory affiliated skilled trade unions. The agreement commits the project to union labor standards on safety, training, and craftsmanship, and positions it as a template for how AI infrastructure is built in the United States.

Why this matters for AI skills and workforce pipelines

OpenAI Chief Global Affairs Officer Chris Lehane posted about the agreement on LinkedIn, writing that "the Intelligence Age isn't just creating new technology. It's creating new jobs, new pathways, and new opportunity for skilled workers." He said the deal demonstrated that "AI infrastructure can and should deliver real economic opportunity in the communities where it's built."

Lehane confirmed that OpenAI is also supporting TradesFutures, NABTU's workforce development nonprofit, to expand training and recruitment. The broader memorandum of understanding signed last month focuses on workforce development, apprenticeship pathways, and strengthening the pipeline of union construction workers needed to build the data centers, electrical systems, and transmission networks required for advanced AI infrastructure. NABTU represents more than three million skilled tradespeople across the United States and Canada.

NABTU President Sean McGarvey describes the deal as an important step for both the industry and America's AI future. He says: "Stargate Michigan will be the first data center built under NABTU and OpenAI's historic Memorandum of Understanding concerning data center construction. This project will be built under a building trades agreement, guaranteeing the highest standards of safety, training, and craftsmanship."

Political and industry backing

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has backed the project, stating: "Michigan is open for business and on the move. We have an opportunity to build the future and benefit from new investments while doing it in a responsible way." Whitmer says the project will ensure local people are trained in the skilled construction trades and have the opportunity to "learn a trade and earn a paycheck that will support their family."

Sam Altman, founder and CEO of OpenAI, frames the agreement as part of a wider reindustrialization moment. He says: "The massive demand for compute, both to ensure broad-based access to intelligence and to assure the world builds out on democratic AI, is creating one of the biggest opportunities in generations to reindustrialize the United States. At the center of that effort are the skilled tradespeople who make it possible."

Oracle CEO Clay Magouyrk says the project will "deliver thousands of jobs, millions in economic benefits, and help advance American AI leadership." Development is being led by Related Digital, with Michigan-based general contractor Walbridge, a 100-year-old firm, instrumental in negotiating the labor agreement. Bruce A. Beal, Jr., President of Related Companies, says Michigan's union labor force was "a huge factor in the selection of this site."

The Stargate Michigan agreement sets a precedent for how the AI infrastructure boom will intersect with skilled trades workforce pipelines across the country. With OpenAI already signaling deeper investment in training and apprenticeship routes through TradesFutures, the question for other states now becomes which project is next, and under what terms.