The US President says the project will be “by far” the largest AI infrastructure project in history.
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 AI infrastructure.
Trump made the announcement at a White House event on Tuesday joined by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and Oracle CTO Larry Ellison.
Trump said the project would be “by far” the largest AI infrastructure project in history and represents a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” under his new administration.
“It’s all happening here in America. You know, there’s a lot of competition for artificial intelligence and other things, and it’s coming in at the highest level,” Trump said.
Shares of Tokyo-based SoftBank Group rose more than 8 percent on Wednesday after the announcement.
The so-called Stargate project will see the three companies initially committing $100 billion, rising to $500 billion over the next four years.
Trump said the funding will be used to build “huge data centers” and other infrastructure needed to support artificial intelligence, helping to ensure the future of the technology.
“What we want to do is keep him in this country,” Trump said. “China is a competitor, others are competitors, and we want that to be in this country.”
The project will be led by Softbank and Open AI, according to a statement from OpenAI. SoftBank’s son will serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Trump’s announcement came a day after he canceled former US President Joe Biden’s executive order that set safety guidelines for developing artificial intelligence.
The rules would have required companies to share safety test results with the US government, among other provisions.
Following Trump’s executive order, Stargate and other US-based AI projects will no longer be subject to national development guidelines, although states may continue to impose restrictions.
In brief comments on Tuesday, Son said Stargate would be “the beginning of our golden age.”
Stargate will also bring some of the top US tech companies into the fold, according to Open AI.
SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX will serve as equity financiers, while Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle and OpenAI are the “key initial technology partners,” the company said in a statement on X.
“Construction is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize final agreements,” Open AI said, promising that Stargate “will not only support remanufacturing in the United States.” countries but also provides a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
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