Oracle and OpenAI are building a massive data center in New Mexico at a time when the state's water crisis is accelerating, raising questions about whether the region can sustain such resource-intensive infrastructure.

What happened

Oracle and OpenAI are developing Project Jupiter, a data center spanning 1,400 acres in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, with $165 billion（約26兆円） in expected investment capital and 2.5 gigawatts of electricity generation. The companies purchased water rights for 2,400 acre-feet per year from a sod farm and initially planned to use close to a million gallons of water per day before Oracle announced a shift to fuel cells that will use about 11 million gallons of non-potable recycled water instead.

Why it matters

New Mexico is experiencing its worst drought on record—by end of December 2025, 71% of the state was in moderate drought and 52% in severe drought, with the state's 50-Year Water Action Plan projecting 25% less water available in rivers and aquifers within 50 years. A January 2025 groundwater report warned that water-hungry data centers threaten aquifer depletion, yet Project Jupiter is pledging $360 million（約580億円） for schools and infrastructure and $50 million（約80億円） for water utility upgrades in a county with high unemployment and one in four children living in poverty.

What to watch

The state's official groundwater authority says the project will not strain limited water resources because it is reusing an existing water right, but the tension between data centers driving half of U.S. electricity demand growth and community opposition is building nationally—71% of Americans oppose an AI data center in their local area.