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OpenAI and SoftBank announced Tuesday that they would launch a massive artificial intelligence infrastructure project in the United States, a move that Donald Trump hailed as a “statement of confidence in America.”
The joint venture, called Stargate, plans to spend $100 billion on Big Tech infrastructure projects, with that figure rising to $500 billion over the next four years, the groups said. It was not immediately clear how Stargate would obtain funding, but a person involved with the project said it intends to attract additional investors.
“This monumental undertaking is a resounding statement of confidence in America’s potential under the leadership of a new president,” Trump said Tuesday evening from the White House, flanked by SoftBank Chairman Masayoshi Son, the head of OpenAI, Sam Altman, and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
Asset added that Stargate would build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI advancements, and that will include building colossal data centers.”
The announcement comes as tech executives seek to court Trump, eager to win major U.S. investments early in his term. The president said Stargate would create 100,000 jobs “almost immediately” and preserve “the future of technology” in America.
SoftBank assumes ultimate financial responsibility for the new company, with OpenAI assuming operational responsibility. Son will chair the joint venture.
Abu Dhabi’s AI-focused Public Fund, MGX and Oracle are also funding the project, while SoftBank-owned Arm, Microsoft and Nvidia will be technology partners.
Stargate aims to strengthen the training and execution capacity of new AI models. It will initially build a data center project in Abilene, Texas – construction of which is already underway, according to the companies – before expanding to other states.
The rapid development of AI systems over the past two years has strained U.S. infrastructure, with data centers becoming a particular bottleneck. Cutting-edge chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude require enormous amounts of data and computing power to train and operate.
This month, Hussain Sajwani, chairman of Dubai-based property developer Damac, announced plans to invest at least $20 billion in US data centers during a meeting with Trump at the Mar-a-Lago presidential complex in Florida.
Figures in the AI industry, including OpenAI’s Altman, have argued that better infrastructure is key to developing the next stage of AI models and competing with China for dominance of the technology.
Altman said this month that the Trump administration could boost domestic AI companies with “infrastructure built in the United States, and a lot of it.”
“What I deeply agree with the president on is that it is incredibly difficult to build things in the United States. Power plants, data centers, all that kind of stuff,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg.
In his inaugural address Monday, Trump promised that the United States was on the brink of an “exciting new era of national success,” but made no specific mention of AI technology.
Last month, Trump called a SoftBank promises to invest $100 billion in the United States, “a monumental demonstration of confidence in America’s future.” A person familiar with the matter said Stargate would be a significant part of that previously announced commitment.
“This is the beginning of a golden age,” Son said Tuesday, adding that the company would not have made the investment if Trump had not been re-elected, comments echoed by Ellison and Altman.
Son has long taken a holistic view of what SoftBank can do in AI, from robotics to data centers, all backed by its crown jewel, UK-based semiconductor designer Armthat he wants to see produce his own chips.
The SoftBank founder also took a significant stake in OpenAI and speaks regularly with Altman.
SoftBank shares rose more than 10 percent in Tokyo on Wednesday following the news.
Coinciding with Stargate’s announcement, Microsoft said Tuesday that it would change the structure of its deal with OpenAI to allow the startup to use its competitors’ cloud computing services.
The move means Microsoft will relinquish its position as OpenAI’s exclusive cloud service provider but retain the right of first refusal. This follows a one-time exemption last year that allowed OpenAI to purchase cloud services from Oracle.
Microsoft said several “key elements” of its partnership with OpenAI will remain in place until the end of 2030, at which point their current agreement, including revenue sharing agreements, will be concluded.
Additional reporting by Rafe Uddin in San Francisco and Alex Rogers in Washington