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ABILENE, Texas — Abilene has been selected as the first location for what President Trump is referring to as “the largest AI infrastructure project by far, in history.”
At President Trump’s first press conference of his second term, he announced Project Stargate, a joint venture of three companies, Softbank, Open AI and Oracle.
“A new American company that will invest 500 billion dollars at least in AI infrastructure in the United States and moving very quickly, very rapidly creating over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately,” President Trump said.
With a population of nearly 130,000, Abilene was chosen as the first location for Project Stargate.
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Develop Abilene posted on Facebook saying, “This historic milestone builds on the successes of the 2021 Development Corporation of Abilene Project “Lancium Clean Campus.”
“The data centers are actually under construction, the first of them are under construction in Texas,” Oracle Executive Chairman, Larry Ellison said. “Each building a half a million square feet. There are 10 buildings currently being built but that will expand to 20 in other locations beyond the Abilene location, which is our first location.”
At Lancium’s ribbon cutting last year, KTXS asked President and CEO of the Development Corporation of Abilene about the role the Lancium data center plays in AI.
“Everything on your phone has to be stored somewhere and a data center stores it a processes electronic information,” Misty Mayo said in October. “So as we begin to use artificial intelligence, AI, in the world, that has to be, that information and that artificial intelligence, has to be processed somewhere and it’s processed in a data center.”
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President Trump said he will play a part in the process.
“I’m gonna help a lot through emergency declarations because we have an emergency we have to get this stuff built,” President Trump said.
The Softbank CEO one of the contributors said the Stargate Project is more than just business.
“This will help people’s life. This will help solving many, many issues…” Masayoshi Son, Softbank CEO said. “Difficult things otherwise we could not have solved. With the power of AI.”
Son said there is no time to waste.
“So we would make this happen,” Son said. “We would immediately start deploying hundred billion dollars, with the goal of making 500 billion dollars within next four years.”
Leaders in this technology, which will be housed right here in Abilene, believe it has the power to change lives.
“I believe that as this technology progresses we will see diseases get cured at an unprecedented rate,” Sam Altman, Open AI co-founder said.
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President Trump said Project Stargate will create over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.
“This is to me a very big thing,” President Trump said. “500 billion dollar Stargate Project. I think it’s gonna be something that’s very special. It will lead to something that could be the biggest of all.”
Develop Abilene also said, “Abilene’s leadership and collaboration have positioned the city as a key player in the future of AI innovation and economic development.” Abilene has been selected as the first location for what President Trump is referring to as “the largest AI infrastructure project by far, in history.”