US President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd after using a pen to sign an executive order inside Capital One Arena during his second presidential inauguration ceremony, January 20, 2025, in Washington, USA. Throw the pen. Reuters/Amanda Peroveri | Amanda Peroverri Photo Credit: Reuters
President Donald Trump on Tuesday discussed a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank that would invest up to $500 billion in infrastructure related to artificial intelligence.
According to the White House, the new company, Stargate, will begin building data centers and power generation facilities needed to further develop rapidly evolving AI in Texas. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion, with the potential to reach five times that amount.
“This is a huge amount of money and high-quality talent,” Trump said, adding that it was “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” under the new administration.
Joining Trump in the White House shortly after taking office were SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison. Construction has already begun and the project dates back to 2024, but all three credited Trump with helping make the project a reality.
“This is going to be the most important project of our time,” said OpenAI CEO Altman.
Ellison said data centers are already under construction, with 10 locations built so far. Oracle’s chairman suggested that the project is also tied to digital health records and could make it easier to treat diseases such as cancer by developing customized vaccines.
“This is the beginning of a golden age,” Son said, referring to Trump’s statement that the United States would enter a “golden age” if he returned to the White House.
Son, a Japan-based billionaire, already pledged in December to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. He previously pledged $50 billion in new investments ahead of Trump’s first term, including a large stake in struggling shared-office company WeWork. Ta.
President Trump has used similar announcements to show that his presidency is boosting the economy, but he was already anticipating a major expansion of data centers and power plants needed to develop AI. . AI is expected to improve productivity by automating tasks, but if it is improperly implemented, there is a risk that jobs will be lost.
Stargate’s original plans date back to the Biden administration. Technology news outlet The Information first reported on the project in March 2024. OpenAI has long relied on Microsoft data centers to build its AI systems, but is increasingly interested in building its own data centers.
Planning and permitting for such projects “can be time-consuming and complex, especially for energy infrastructure,” OpenAI said in a letter to the Biden administration’s Commerce Department last fall.
Other partners in the project include Microsoft, investor MGX, and chipmakers Arm and NVIDIA, according to separate statements from Oracle and OpenAI.
The push to build data centers began before President Trump took office. Last October, financial firm Blackstone estimated that $1 trillion would be invested in data centers in the United States over five years, and another $1 trillion internationally.
These investment estimates come as OpenAI launches ChatGPT, a chatbot that captured the public’s imagination with its ability to answer complex questions and perform basic business, in 2022, establishing itself as a sector leader. This suggests that much of the new capital will go through the Stargate. task.
The White House is aware that the U.S. is competing with China to develop technologies that are increasingly being adopted by businesses, and is making it easier to build new power generation facilities in anticipation of the expansion of AI. The emphasis is on
Still, President Trump on Monday reversed a 2023 executive order signed by then-President Joe Biden that set safety standards for AI-generated content, the creation of watermarks, and more, in hopes of putting guardrails on the technology’s potential. The regulatory outlook for AI remains somewhat uncertain. Risks to national security and economic well-being.
CBS News first reported that Trump would announce investments in AI.
Trump supporter Elon Musk, who is worth more than $400 billion, was an early investor in OpenAI, but later objected to its transition to a for-profit company and founded his own AI company, xAI. Musk also heads the Department of Government Efficiency, which President Trump formally created on Monday to cut government spending.
President Trump previously announced in January that DAMAC Properties in the United Arab Emirates would invest $20 billion to build AI-related data centers.
issued – January 22, 2025 8:26 AM IST
