President Trump on Tuesday announced the creation of a new project to invest up to $500 billion to build the infrastructure needed to develop artificial intelligence (AI) during his second term.
The joint project, called Stargate, includes OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle as initial capital investors and will focus on projects related to the development of AI. It plans to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure with the goal of creating more than 100,000 jobs in the United States.
Middle East AI funds MGX, Microsoft, Nvidia and Arm are also participating in the technology project.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison also joined President Trump at the White House announcement.
The president called it “the largest AI infrastructure project in history,” a nod to the foreign competition the United States faces on emerging technologies.
“It secures the future of technology. What we want to do, we want to keep it in this country — China is a competitor, other countries are competitors,” Trump said.
The president said the construction of data centers and campuses that would employ “a large number of people” were “currently being considered nationally.” Ellison later said that an Oracle data center is already under construction in Texas.
“This is the beginning of a golden age,” Justice said, referring to President Trump's line from his inaugural address the day before.
“This is not only useful for business, but also for people's lives. This is the power of AI that will help solve so many problems,” added the SoftBank leader.
Altman later said he was “excited to be able to do this in the United States,” adding that he doesn't think the company could have done this without Trump.
“I think the fact that we can do this in the United States is great,” Altman added.
New AI technologies like OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbot require unprecedented amounts of power to build and maintain the tools.
According to Department of Energy (DOE) Report Last month, data center energy demands in the United States tripled over the past decade and are expected to double or triple by 2028.
According to the report, data centers are expected to consume more than 6 to 12 percent of U.S. electricity by 2028.
Masayoshi predicted that generative AI, a type of AI that can create content based on prompts, is “coming very soon,” and hinted at artificial superintelligence, a hypothetical form of AI that surpasses human intelligence, in the future. I did.
The announcement is the latest sign that Silicon Valley is managing to make headway with Trump, who has long been a critic of the traditionally deep-blue industry.
Mr. Altman attended Mr. Trump's inauguration on Monday, along with several other tech leaders who have met with the president in the weeks leading up to his reelection.
For Altman, a longtime donor to the Democratic Party, partnering with the president is a big change. He personally donated $1 million of his personal funds to President Trump's inaugural fund.
President Trump called Altman a “guru” in AI and described the group of technology leaders as “a huge group of talent and money.”
In December, Mr. Justice announced at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago mansion that Mr. Trump's company plans to invest $100 billion in the United States over the next four years. At the time, Trump pressured SoftBank leaders to double the investment to $200 billion on the spot. Masayoshi laughed and said, “I'll try to make it happen.''
“Now I'm back with $500,” Justice said at the White House on Tuesday.
when CBS Oracle's stock rose more than 7% that day after it was first reported that Oracle, OpenAI and SoftBank would participate in an investment that Trump was expected to announce later that day. Oracle CEO Safra Catz joined the Trump transition team in 2016. Reuters It was reported at the time.
On Monday night, President Trump rescinded former President Biden's 2023 Executive Order on AI as part of his first actions as president. The executive order focused on leveraging advancing technology while managing its risks.
The repeal leaves AI regulation and research in a somewhat gray area, with some technology advocacy groups calling for clearer guidelines from President Trump.
The investment may come as a surprise to some in the technology industry, who predicted late last year that the president might cut federal funding for emerging technology companies.
This comes just a week after Biden signed an executive order to accelerate the construction of new data centers and associated energy infrastructure needed to accelerate the development of AI.
Updated at 6:16pm EST
