Brandon Bell/Pool via AP
Trump advisor and world’s richest man Elon Musk threw a wrench into the much-ballyhooed gears of Trump’s AI infrastructure plans, insisting that billionaire investors in the project called Stargate — who stood next to Trump in an announcement this week — “don’t actually have the money.”
During a Tuesday afternoon press conference in the White House, President Donald Trump was joined by Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, Sam Altman of OpenAI, and Larry Ellison of Oracle to announce the project. The assembled chief executives all gave credit to the president for making the project possible, even though the project began under former President Joe Biden in 2024, and construction of the massive building in Texas set to house it has already started.
The AP reported that the partnership “will start building out data centers and the electricity generation needed for the further development of the fast-evolving AI in Texas, according to the White House. The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum.”
“It’s big money and high-quality people,” said Trump during the press event, adding that it’s “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential” under his new administration.
OpenAI’s Altman added, “This will be the most important project of this era.” Oracle’s Ellison noted that the data centers are already under construction, with 10 being built. The chairman of Oracle suggested that the project was also tied to digital health records and would make it easier to treat diseases such as cancer by possibly developing a customized vaccine.
OpenAI explained the initiative, and specifically, the investors, in greater detail in a statement posted to 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.
The initial equity funders in Stargate are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank having financial responsibility and OpenAI having operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son will be the chairman.
Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners. The buildout is currently underway, starting in Texas, and we are evaluating potential sites across the country for more campuses as we finalize definitive agreements.
As part of Stargate, Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system. This builds on a deep collaboration between OpenAI and NVIDIA going back to 2016 and a newer partnership between OpenAI and Oracle. This also builds on the existing OpenAI partnership with Microsoft.
OpenAI will continue to increase its consumption of Azure as OpenAI continues its work with Microsoft with this additional compute to train leading models and deliver great products and services. All of us look forward to continuing to build and develop AI—and in particular AGI—for the benefit of all of humanity. We believe that this new step is critical on the path, and will enable creative people to figure out how to use AI to elevate humanity.
However, in reply to the OpenAI social media post, Musk shot down the announcement, stating simply: “They don’t actually have the money.” He followed up with: “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
Screenshot
There are several ways to interpret Musk’s comments, and he could simply simply be revealing that fund-raising efforts are still underway. There is no denying, however, that his comments that this is still an ongoing project stand in stark difference to the tone of victory and project completion that Trump promoted during Tuesday’s White House event.
https://tracking.feedpress.com/link/20202/16945134/elon-musk-blows-hole-in-trumps-big-ai-infrastructure-announcement-they-dont-actually-have-the-money
January 23, 2025
feedpress.me