[Three top tech firms, OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, announced the creation of a new company, Stargate, to grow artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States. The companies will invest $100 billion to start, with plans to pour up to $500 billion into Stargate in the coming years, creating 100,000 US jobs, according to President Donald Trump.
Stargate will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI,” including data centers around the country, Trump said. The first, 1 million-square foot data project is already under construction in Texas.
The project is expected to cost billions of dollars, said AI leaders, who have been sounding the alarm about the need for more data centers and the chips and electricity and water resources to run them. “I think this will be the most important project of this era,” said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. “We wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr. President.”
Oracle, one of the biggest US data center operators, and SoftBank, with its deep pockets, will be major players in the project. The two companies will have financial and operational responsibility, respectively. MGX, a fourth partner, will also contribute funding, with SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son as Stargate’s chairman.
The project is seen as a way to secure American leadership in AI and create jobs and economic benefits. “Infrastructure in the United States is super important, AI is a little bit different from other kinds of software in that it requires massive amounts of infrastructure, power, computer chips, data centers, and we need to build that here and we need to be able to have the best AI infrastructure in the world to be able to lead with the technology and the capabilities,” said Altman.
The companies will work together to create a “foundational strategy” to ensure the US leads in AI development and deployment, creating new jobs and economic opportunities. The project will also prioritize security and national defense, according to Oracle.
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