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Three major business leaders—SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle Corp. Chairman Larry Ellison—joined President Donald Trump on Tuesday afternoon at the White House to announce the creation of a new company called Stargate.
“Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI,” Trump said. “The Stargate project, I think it’s going to be something that’s very special. It could lead to something that’s the biggest of all.”
Why It Matters
Trump has touted such announcements to show his presidency is boosting the economy and there were high expectations for a significant expansion of data centers and power plants essential for AI development.
AI has the potential to enhance productivity by automating tasks but also poses the risk of job displacement if not implemented carefully.
US President Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room flanked by Masayoshi Son (2L), Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp, Larry Ellison (2R), Executive Charmain Oracle and Sam Altman (R), CEO of Open AI at the White House on January 21, 2025, in Washington, DC.
Getty
What To Know
Texas-based Stargate will invest up to $500 billion over the next four years in AI infrastructure. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum, according to The Associated Press. Trump also announced that it will create over 100,000 jobs.
Ellison shared at the press conference that 10 data centers are already being built in Texas. Last October, the financial company Blackstone projected that $1 trillion would be invested in U.S. data centers over five years, with an additional $1 trillion committed internationally.
“AI holds prominence for all of us, for every American,” Ellison said. “The kinds of applications that we’re building, to give you an idea, maybe the most charismatic and touches us all is electronic health records.”
Ellison said the technology will help doctors understand their patients “better than they otherwise would be,” by allowing them to see how other physicians and surgeons may treat a patient.
He also said AI could be used to detect slight differences that cause cancer, both for earlier detection as well as potential cancer vaccinations.
Altman added that AI can help with heart issues.
Son, a billionaire based in Japan, had already pledged in December to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. The head of SoftBank had previously committed to $50 billion in new investments before Trump’s first term, which included a substantial stake in the troubled co-working company WeWork.
“This is the beginning of the golden age in America,” Son said, and went on to joke that Trump had asked for a $2 billion investment just a few months ago, but Son had came back with even more. “We’re very, very excited to do this.”
The SoftBank CEO added that AI will allow for many “difficult things” to be resolved that otherwise may not be.
In January, Trump announced a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties from the United Arab Emirates to construct data centers focused on AI development.
These investment estimates indicate that a significant portion of the new capital will be channeled through Stargate, as OpenAI, with the 2022 launch of its chatbot ChatGPT, established itself as an industry leader.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who has a net worth of more than $400 billion, was an early investor in OpenAI but has since criticized its shift to a for-profit venture and has launched his own AI company, xAI.
Musk now oversees the Department of Government Efficiency, which Trump formally created on Monday to reduce government spending.
“I’m thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America. I think this is the most important thing we do in this era,” Altman, who Trump called “the leading expert” in AI, said.
Beyond Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle, key initial technology partners include Arm, Microsoft and NVIDIA.
“As part of Stargate, Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system,” OpenAI posted to X, formerly known as Twitter. “This builds on a deep collaboration between OpenAI and NVIDIA going back to 2016 and a newer partnership between OpenAI and Oracle.”
Trump also highlighted that the U.S. is engaged in a competitive race with China over AI and suggested that this type of technology might have otherwise gone to China.
“It will ensure the future of this technology,” Trump said. “What we want to do is we want to keep it in this country. China is a competitor. We want it to be in this country. We want it to be available. I’m going to help a lot through emergency declarations.”
What People Are Saying
OpenAI said on X: “The Stargate Project is a new company which intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. This infrastructure will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefit for the entire world. This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
Ellison said at the press conference on Tuesday: “This is a very exciting program for Oracle to be a part of.”
What’s Next
The regulatory outlook for AI remains somewhat uncertain.
Trump promised in his presidential campaign platform to “repeal Joe Biden‘s dangerous Executive Order that hinders AI Innovation and imposes Radical Leftwing ideas on the development of this technology.”
Trump followed through on that pledge on Monday when he overturned Biden’s 2023 order.
The president said at the press conference that there will be more announcements regarding investments in AI and other sectors, by the end of the week.
Update: 1/21/25, 5:27 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with a statement from OpenAI.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.