What just happened? Donald Trump has announced that tech titans OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank are joining forces on a colossal $500 billion initiative dubbed "Project Stargate." According to the US president, the goal is to secure AI compute in the country and gain an edge against China, which has been rapidly advancing its own AI ambitions.
At a White House press conference, Trump was flanked by the companies' top brass as he hyped up Stargate by proclaiming that it will cement the future of technology in the US while creating over 100,000 new jobs.
The project's plan is for OpenAI, Oracle, and Japanese conglomerate SoftBank to plow an initial $100 billion into data center infrastructure across the country. This will balloon to a mind-boggling total investment of half a trillion dollars over the next four years. Big names like Arm, Microsoft, and Nvidia are also listed as technology partners.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said at the conference that it's already begun building 10 data centers measuring half a million square feet each in Texas. But details are still hazy on where the next facilities will pop up.
Ellison added that the project will include the construction of the largest computer ever built. This could be used to invent cancer vaccines and help prevent Covid-19-like pandemics.
Not everyone seems enthusiastic about the announcement, though. Pushing back against the Stargate hype is none other than Elon Musk, who fired shots at the funding claims.
"They don't actually have the money," Musk argued on X, saying SoftBank has under $10 billion truly locked in – based on his intel.
wrong, as you surely know.
– Sam Altman (@sama) January 22, 2025
want to come visit the first site already under way?
this 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 🇺🇸 first.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman quickly clapped back under the same post, taunting Musk to "come visit the first site" and accusing him of putting his own companies' interests over those of the US. The two tech billionaires have been engaged in an increasingly bitter legal battle over OpenAI, which Musk was an early investor in before exiting.
However, serious questions remain around AI's impact on jobs, safety risks, and more. Trump has already axed some of the Biden-era guardrails around AI and experts are warning that a lack of regulation could have major consequences as capabilities rapidly advance.
There's been some buzz that the Stargate project is OpenAI's attempt to reduce its reliance on Microsoft by investing in dedicated AI infrastructure. But in its blog post, OpenAI appears to shut down that speculation, mentioning that the initiative actually builds on their existing partnership.
The company says that it 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."
