US President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the private sector will invest up to $500 billion to fund artificial intelligence infrastructure.
According to several reports, OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle are planning a joint venture based in Texas called “Stargate,” and have pledged to invest $100 billion in it initially, then up to $500 billion over the next four years.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and his counterparts at OpenAI Sam Altman and at Oracle Larry Ellison joined Trump at the White House to launch the project.
The announcement comes on Trump’s second day in office after reversing his predecessor Joe Biden’s executive order on artificial intelligence, which was intended to reduce the risks it poses to consumers, workers and national security.
Artificial intelligence requires massive computing power, which increases demand for specialized data centers that enable technology companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters.
“They have to produce a lot of electricity, and we will make it possible for them to do that production very easily in their own factories if they want,” Trump said.
North American Electric Reliable Corporation said in December that as US energy consumption rises from artificial intelligence data centers and the electrification of buildings and transportation, about half the country is at increased risk of energy supply shortages in the next decade.
The promises of 2016 will be fulfilled in 2024
When he was a candidate in 2016, Trump promised to submit a trillion-dollar infrastructure bill to Congress, but he did not.
He talked about the issue a lot during his first presidential term from 2017 to 2021, but he did not make any major investment, and “Infrastructure Week” became a subject of rarity.
Oracle shares jumped 7% as initial news about the project came earlier today. Nvidia, ARM Holdings, and Dell shares also rose.
It is not yet clear whether the announcement is an update to a project previously discussed. In March 2024, The Information, a technology news site, reported that OpenAI and Microsoft were working on plans for a $100 billion data center project that would include an artificial intelligence supercomputer, also called a Stargate. It is scheduled to be launched in 2028.
Investment in artificial intelligence has increased since OpenAI launched the GBT Chat application in 2022, as companies in various sectors seek to integrate this technology into their products and services.
Trump’s new project comes at a time when major technology companies are struggling to meet the insatiable requirements for artificial intelligence computing and also secure the electrical energy needed to develop this new technology.
Trump said that the “Stargate” project will create the physical and virtual infrastructure to operate the advanced next generation of artificial intelligence, including building “huge data centers.”
Texas is rapidly advancing to replace California in terms of large investments in technology in the United States.
In brief remarks at the White House, Oracle President Larry Ellison highlighted promising innovations for artificial intelligence in the field of medicine, such as “early detection of cancer through a blood test.”
The announcement of the Stargate project comes a day after Trump canceled an executive order issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, imposing measures to supervise companies that develop artificial intelligence programs.
The cancellation of this order on Monday leaves the United States without any formal federal government measures to reduce the risks of this technology, especially with regard to privacy and preventing civil rights violations, despite some states seeking to take their own measures.
