The $500 billion Stargate artificial intelligence project was officially announced by President Donald Trump at a press conference yesterday. Standing with him were the project's chief backers: Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank, the Japanese investment holding company focusing on technology companies; Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, one the world's leading artificial intelligence companies; and Larry Ellison, executive chairman of software giant Oracle.
The announcement came the day after Trump issued an executive order rescinding Joe Biden's October 2023 executive order that would have significantly impeded the development of AI technologies.
According to OpenAI's press release outlining the Stargate project, the partners will begin deploying $100 billion immediately. The key technology partners are Arm Holdings, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI. Initial funding will be supplied by Softbank, OpenAI, Oracle, and the MGX AI investment fund based in the United Arab Emirates. Starting with a gigantic data center currently under construction in Abilene, Texas, the ultimate goal is to build as many as 20 AI data centers scattered around the country over the next four years.
