Tech giants are putting $500bn into ‘Stargate’ to build up AI in US

Venture is partnership between OpenAI, Oracle, Japan’s Softbank and UAE's MGX

By News Desk
January 23, 2025
A illustration showing a robotic figure against the backdrop of AI written in the background on May 4, 2023. — Reuters
A illustration showing a robotic figure against the backdrop of AI written in the background on May 4, 2023. — Reuters

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The creator of ChatGPT, OpenAI, is teaming up with another US tech giant, a Japanese investment firm and an Emirati sovereign wealth fund to build $500bn (£405bn) of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in the United States.

The new company, called The Stargate Project, was announced at the White House by President Donald Trump who billed it “the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history” and said it would help keep “the future of technology” in the US.

But Elon Musk -- both a top adviser to Trump and rival to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman -- on Wednesday said the venture does not “actually have the money” it has pledged to invest. The venture is a partnership between OpenAI, Oracle, Japan’s Softbank and MGX, a tech investment arm of the United Arab Emirates government. The companies said the new venture, which was in the works before Trump took office, had $100bn in funding available immediately, with the rest to come over four years, creating an estimated 100,000 jobs.