The US president says the venture will be the largest AI infrastructure project ‘by far’ in history.
United States President Donald Trump has announced a $500 billion joint venture with Texas-based tech firm Oracle, Japan’s SoftBank and ChatGPT maker OpenAI to advance artificial intelligence infrastructure. .
Trump made the announcement Tuesday at a White House event attended by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle’s chief technology officer Larry Ellison.
Trump said the project would be the largest AI infrastructure project “by far” in history and represented “a tremendous declaration of confidence in America’s ability” under his new administration.
“It’s all happening right here in America. As you know, there’s tremendous competition for AI and other things and they’re coming at a higher level,” Trump said.
Shares in Tokyo-based Softbank Group rose more than 8 percent on Wednesday after the announcement.
The so-called Stargate venture will see three companies commit $100bn initially, rising to $500bn over the next four years.
Trump said the funding would be used to build “big data centers” and other infrastructure needed to support AI, helping to future-proof the technology.
“We want to keep him in this country,” Trump said. “China is a competitor and there are other competitors and we want it to stay in this country.”
According to a statement from OpenAI, the project will be led by SoftBank and OpenAI. Softbank’s son will serve as chairman.
Trump’s announcement comes a day after former US President Joe Biden rescinded an executive order that established safety guidelines for AI development.
The rules would require companies to share the results of safety tests with the U.S. government, among other provisions.
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 Stargate would be “the beginning of our golden age.”
According to OpenAI, Stargate will also bring in some of America’s top tech companies.
SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX will serve as equity funders, while Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle and OpenAI are “key early technology partners,” the company said in a statement on X.
“Construction is currently underway in Texas, and we are evaluating potential sites across the country for additional campuses as we finalize definitive agreements,” Open AI said, promising Stargate “will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States, but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of the United States and its allies.”
