Trump Announces $500 Billion ‘Stargate’ Venture to Build AI Infrastructure | Technology news
The US president says the venture will be ‘by far’ the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure project in history.
United States President Donald Trump has announced a $500 billion joint venture with Texas-based technology company Oracle, Japan’s SoftBank and ChatGPT maker OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Trump made the announcement at a White House event on Tuesday joined by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison.
Trump said the venture would be “by far” the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure project in history and represents a “resounding statement of confidence in America’s potential” under his new administration.
“It’s all happening right here in America. As you know, there is a lot of competition for artificial intelligence and other things and they are coming at the highest level,” Trump said.
Shares in Tokyo-based Softbank Group jumped more than 8 percent on Wednesday after the announcement.
The three companies will initially invest $100 billion in the so-called Stargate venture, which will grow to $500 billion over the next four years.
The funding will be used to build “colossal data centers” and other infrastructure needed to support artificial intelligence, helping to secure the future of the technology, Trump said.
“What we want to do is keep him in this country,” Trump said. “China is a competitor and there are other competitors and we want that to be the case in this country.”
The project will be led by Softbank and Open AI, according to OpenAI’s press release. Softbank’s son will be president.
Trump’s announcement came a day after he rescinded former US President Joe Biden’s executive order that established security guidelines for the development of artificial intelligence.
Among other provisions, the rules would require companies to share the results of security tests with the US government.
Following Trump’s executive order, Stargate and other US-based AI projects will no longer be subject to national development guidelines, although states can still impose restrictions.
In brief remarks Tuesday, Son said the Stargate will be “the beginning of our golden age.”
Stargate will also bring some of America’s top tech companies into the fold, according to Open AI.
SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX will serve as equity investors, while Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle and OpenAI are “key initial technology partners,” the company said in a statement to X.
“Construction is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating potential locations across the country for multiple campuses as we finalize final agreements,” Open AI said, promising that Stargate “will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States, but also provide a strategic ability to protect the national security of America and its allies”.
