President Donald Trump announced a major investment, called Stargate, to build artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the United States, led by Japanese giant Softbank, cloud giant Oracle, and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.
The venture aims to invest at least $500 billion in AI infrastructure, with an initial commitment of $100 billion and up to $500 billion over the next four years. Trump highlighted this as “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential.”
Announcing the project, Trump said, “What we want to do is we want to keep it in this country.” “”China is a competitor, others are competitors. We want to be in this country, and we’re making it available. I’m gonna help a lot through emergency declarations, because we have an emergency, we have to get this stuff built. So they have to produce a lot of electricity. And we’ll make it possible for them to get this production done easily, at their own plants if they wan,” he added.
The announcement came a day after Trump’s swearing-in for a second term, with OpenAI’s chief executive Sam Altman, SoftBank’s chief Masayoshi Son, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison in attendance. Trump emphasized that Stargate will build the physical and virtual infrastructure necessary to power the next generation of AI advancements, including the construction of “colossal data centers.”
OpenAI later clarified in an X post that the project will support the re-industrialisation of the United States and provide a strategic capability to protect national security. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. MGX, a technology fund from the United Arab Emirates, is a fourth investor, while Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners.
“Buildout is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize definitive agreements,” the post added.
The three bosses thanked Trump for his support, with Altman stating, “We couldn’t have done this without you.” Ellison highlighted the medical innovations promised by AI, such as early cancer detection with a blood test.
Meanwhile, SoftBank shares soared more than eight per cent in Tokyo following the announcement.
Later on Monday after inauguration, Trump rescinded an executive order from his predecessor Joe Biden that established oversight measures for companies developing powerful AI models. The repeal leaves the United States without nationwide AI development guidelines, although individual states are pursuing their own measures.
