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Three major technology companies announced Tuesday that they will create a new company, called Stargate, to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States.
Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank, and Larry Ellison, Chairman of Oracle, appeared at the White House Tuesday afternoon alongside President Donald Trump to announce the creation of the company, which Trump called it “the largest AI infrastructure project in history.”
The companies will invest $100 billion in the project to start, and plan to invest up to $500 billion in Stargate in the coming years. The project is expected to create 100,000 jobs in the United States, Trump said.
Stargate will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI,” including data centers across the country, Trump said. Ellison said the group’s first data project, at 1 million square feet, was already under construction in Texas.
For months, AI leaders have been sounding the alarm that more data centers – along with the chips, electricity and water resources to run them – are needed to realize their AI ambitions. artificial intelligence in the years to come.
“I think this will be the most important project of this era,” Altman said Tuesday. “We couldn’t do this without you, Mr. President.”
Oracle is among the largest data center operators in the United States. And SoftBank has the financial wherewithal to finance the expansion of AI infrastructure, which is expected to cost billions of dollars.
Altman has previously urged U.S. officials to help build this infrastructure to ensure the U.S. stays ahead of China in the AI arms race, given that AI is on the cusp to impact everything from the economy to military capabilities. The OpenAI CEO also reportedly met with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son last year to seek investment in new semiconductor factories for building AI chips.
Altman, who attended Trump’s inauguration on Monday, told Fox News last month that he thinks Trump “will be very good” at attracting investment in AI infrastructure to the United States and said that he was “looking forward to working with his administration on this.”
“Infrastructure in the United States is extremely important, AI is a little different from other types of software in that it requires enormous amounts of infrastructure, energy, computer chips, data centers, and we need to build that here and we need to be able to have the best AI infrastructure in the world to be able to lead with the technology and the capabilities,” Altman said in the interview.
In a policy white paper released last week, OpenAI said investment in U.S. AI infrastructure can ensure that U.S. AI tools prevail over Chinese technology, as well as creating new jobs and economic opportunities in the United States, and urged the U.S. government to create “a foundational strategy to ensure that infrastructure investments benefit the most people and maximize access to AI.” The brief estimates that there is “$175 billion in global funds waiting to be invested in AI projects.”
“If the United States does not attract these funds, they will flow to Chinese-backed projects, thereby strengthening the global influence of the Chinese Communist Party,” the company said.
Oracle said in a statement that Project Stargate “will ensure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefits for the entire world.” This project will not only support the reindustrialization of the United States, but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies. »
SoftBank will have financial responsibility for Stargate and OpenAI will have operational responsibility. A fourth partner, MGX, also makes a financial contribution. SoftBank’s son will be Stargate’s chairman, OpenAI said.
New presidents and presidents-elect have often made joint announcements with businesses about massive U.S. investments to promote a so-called renaissance of American industry. But their record of success is decidedly mixed.
Trump announced in 2017 with Foxconn the construction of a massive $10 billion electronics factory in Wisconsin, which is expected to create 13,000 jobs. But the company ultimately abandoned most of its plans for the facility and the high-tech products it was supposed to produce. The company announced in 2021 that it would only invest $672 million in a revised deal that would create fewer than 1,500 jobs.
Foxconn, however, said it invested $1 billion in the state and still has a major data server manufacturing site with more than 1,000 employees. But the facility Trump announced has become a Microsoft data center aimed at training employees and manufacturers on how best to use artificial intelligence.
Trump on Monday also rescinded an executive order passed by former President Joe Biden in 2023 that sought to monitor and regulate AI risks.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
