Donald Trump announced an ambitious initiative for the United States to undertake what he calls ‘the largest AI infrastructure project in history.’ This venture, supported by seven prominent companies, aims to involve a $500 billion investment.
During a press briefing at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, January 21, Trump was joined by Oracle CTO Larry Ellison, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, and SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son to introduce the new company, Stargate.
An immediate allocation of $100 billion has been confirmed, with the total investment reaching $500 billion by 2029.
The US is currently a leader in artificial intelligence, and Trump appears committed to maintaining this status.
“I’m going to help a lot through emergency declarations because we have an emergency,” he stated.
The project includes building data centers in the United States that will power artificial intelligence technologies.
Construction has begun in Texas, with other locations under consideration as ‘definitive agreements’ are being finalized across the nation.
This infrastructure is expected to ‘secure American leadership in AI,’ create ‘hundreds of thousands of American jobs,’ and ‘generate massive economic benefits for the entire world,’ according to OpenAI, known for developing ChatGPT, as noted on their website.
“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 statement continued.
Seven major companies are currently involved in the project, including some of the largest technology firms globally.
Stargate’s initial equity funding includes contributions from Japan’s SoftBank and the UAE’s AI investment arm MGX, alongside OpenAI and Oracle, a major computer technology company.
Arm, a semiconductor company, joins Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI as key technology partners for Stargate.
Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will work closely together to construct and operate the project’s computing system, while Microsoft will assist in ‘training leading models and delivering great products and services’.
The surge in demand for large AI projects has sparked concerns about energy resources, security, and the reliability of the AI models’ intelligence.
Robert Weissman, co-president of consumer rights advocacy group Public Citizen, expressed apprehension that the Stargate initiative ‘raises massive antitrust concerns’ and emphasized the need for focus on sustainability and consumer impacts.
He stated: “Absent a commitment to bring on new, renewable energy to power an even greater spike in AI power demand, the Stargate build out threatens to worsen the rush to climate catastrophe and to drive up consumer electric bills.
“The build out of new, renewable energy supply must be addressed before this surge in AI data centers and cannot be an afterthought.”
Weissman concluded: “Big Tech AI purveyors have consistently overpromised the real-world benefits they can offer while ignoring the real-world harms they are causing. That record should make us very skeptical about today’s announcement.”