The US president said the venture would be the largest AI infrastructure project in history “to date.”
US President Donald Trump announced a $500 billion joint venture with Texas-based technology company Oracle, Japan’s SoftBank and ChatGPT maker OpenAI to develop artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Trump made the announcement Tuesday at a White House event that was also attended by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison.
President Trump said the project would be the largest AI infrastructure project in history “to date” and represented “an unwavering declaration of confidence in America’s potential” under the new administration.
“It’s all happening right here in America. You know, there’s a lot of competition when it comes to AI and other things, and they’re coming in at the highest levels,” Trump said.
Shares of Tokyo-based SoftBank Group soared more than 8% on Wednesday following the announcement.
In the so-called Stargate Venture, the three companies will initially invest $100 billion, increasing to $500 billion over the next four years.
President Trump said the funding will be used to build “giant data centers” and other infrastructure needed to support AI, helping secure the future of the technology.
“What we want to do is keep it in this country,” Trump said. “China is a competitor, other countries are competitors, and we want that to exist in this country.”
The project will be led by SoftBank and Open AI, according to a statement from OpenAI. Softbank’s Son will become chairman.
President Trump’s announcement came a day after he rescinded former US President Joe Biden’s executive order setting safety guidelines for AI development.
The rules required companies to share safety test results with the U.S. government, among other things.
After President Trump’s executive order, Stargate and other U.S.-based AI projects will no longer be subject to national development guidelines, but states may still impose restrictions.
In brief remarks Tuesday, Son said Stargate would be “the beginning of our golden age.”
Stargate will also include top US technology companies, according to Open AI.
In a statement about X, the company said SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX will be investors, and Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI will be “key initial technology partners.”
“Construction is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are considering potential locations across the United States for more campuses as we finalize the agreement,” OpenAI said, adding that Stargate “We will do more than just help America re-industrialize,” he promised. The nation also provides strategic capabilities to protect the national security of the United States and its allies. ”
