OpenAI announced Stargate Project —a partnership with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, Oracle, and MGX— with plans to invest up to $500 billion over the next four years in AI infrastructure in the United States.
The companies revealed the plans during a press conference at the White House on Tuesday, where President Donald Trump discussed U.S. infrastructure investments. “It’s big money and high-quality people,” Trump said, calling the initiative “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” at the start of his new administration.
U.S. President Trump called the Stargate Project as “the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history.” Stargate will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI,” including data centers around the country, Trump said.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son joined Trump. All three credited Trump for helping to make the project possible. “This will be the most important project of this era,” Altman said. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr. President.”
The partners said that the Stargate project “will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefit for the entire world. This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
What is Project Stargate
“The Stargate Project is a new company which intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States,” OpenAI, and SoftBank said in a joint statement. “This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
“SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility,” the statement continued.
The companies will immediately invest $100 billion in the project, with plans to pour up to $500 billion into Stargate in the coming years. Trump said the project is expected to create 100,000 jobs in the United States.
The venture is a significant push to strengthen the country’s AI capabilities and aims to build up to 20 new data centers. Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison revealed that 10 data centers are already under construction in Texas and suggested the project could help advance digital health records and cancer treatments, including the potential development of customized vaccines.
Oracle is one of the largest U.S. data center operators, while SoftBank has the financial resources necessary to fund the billions of dollars required to expand AI infrastructure.
Key Players
The key players include ChatGPT creator OpenAI, tech giant Microsoft and semiconductor manufacturers ARM and Nvidia, Software giant Oracle and Japan’s SoftBank, and Abu Dhabi-based AI-focused investment firm MGX, an investor in OpenAI.
- The initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX.
- Masayoshi Son will be the chairman.
- The key initial technology partners are Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI.
- As part of Stargate, Oracle, Nvidia, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system.
In a blog post, OpenAI said the project also builds on the company’s existing partnership with Microsoft, while establishing a new one with Oracle. “OpenAI will continue to increase its consumption of Azure as OpenAI continues its work with Microsoft with this additional compute to train leading models and deliver great products and services.”
AI demands massive computing power, driving the need for specialized data centers that allow tech companies to connect thousands of chips in clusters.
Elon Musk trolls Trump-backed Stargate AI Project
Hours after the project was announced, Elon Musk publicly raised questions about the $500 billion joint venture, saying the companies behind the project don’t have enough capital to follow through on their pledges.
Musk, who now co-leads the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), responded skeptically to OpenAI’s announcement on social media. “They don’t actually have the money,” Musk tweeted, adding in a follow-up post on X, “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
Altman responded to Musk’s claim on X and called his bluff. “Wrong, as you surely know,” Altman said, responding to Musk’s allegation that SoftBank was short of capital. “[Stargate] is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role, I hope you’ll mostly put America first.”
Musk, a longtime critic of his former business partner Sam Altman, often exchanges jabs with Altman online. Although the truth of Musk’s claims remains unclear, his comments are a sharp contrast to the optimistic tone of the announcement. Musk, who resigned from OpenAI in 2018, now has his own AI company, xAI, that competes with OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT.
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