President Trump makes major infrastructure announcement on his second day in office.
Business mogul and X CEO Elon Musk has cast doubt on whether there are enough funds available to follow through on a massive $500 billion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project announced Tuesday by the President Donald Trump.
The new project, called Stargate, will see Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle join forces to build data centers in the United States to further the development of AI, which promises to increase productivity by automating work.
Larry Ellison, president of Oracle, also suggested that the project could facilitate the treatment of diseases such as cancer by possibly developing a personalized vaccine by combining the technology with digital health records.
Elon Musk, right, sowed doubt about whether there was enough funding available to follow through on a massive $500 billion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project announced Tuesday by President Donald Trump. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed (Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images and Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images. / Getty Images)
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The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that amount. Microsoft, NVIDIA, investor MGX and chipmaker Arm are also partners in the project.
“Project Stargate is a new company that intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years to build new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately “, indicates an announcement from OpenAI published on X on Tuesday.
But Musk, who has had a fractured relationship with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, suggested on X that the AI company did not have the cash to support its announcement.
“They don’t really have any money,” Musk tweeted on X in response to OpenAI’s post.
” Musk then continued his post by writing: “SoftBank got way less than $10 billion. I have it on good authority.”
But Altman responded to Musk’s claims.
Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 21, 2025, in Washington, DC, announcing Stargate. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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“False, as you probably know. Want to come and visit the first construction site already in progress?” Altman wrote.
“It’s great for the country. I realize what’s great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your businesses, but in your new role, I hope you put America first .”
Altman also seemed to calm the situation, praising Musk for being one of the “most inspiring entrepreneurs of our time.”
In March, Tesla CEO Musk announced he was suing ChatGPT creator OpenAI and Altman, among others, claiming they had abandoned the company’s original founding mission of developing voice-enabled technology. open source artificial general intelligence to benefit humanity at the expense of profits.
Meanwhile, a source close to Stargate told Fox Business that Stargate is ready to deploy the $100 billion immediately.
The source said the companies participating in the venture are well positioned to make the investments, with equity from well-capitalized founding partners, additional equity from co-investors, as well as third-party debt and other sources.
OpenAI, logo shown, SoftBank and Oracle are joining forces to build data centers in the United States to continue the development of AI. (Photo by Dilara Irem Sancar/Anadolu via Getty Images / Getty Images)
For example, SoftBank had $24.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet as of September 30, 2024, according to its latest results. In terms of earnings, SoftBank’s loan-to-value ratio stood at 12.5%.
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MGX reportedly has $100 billion in capital commitments, Oracle has $11 billion in cash on its balance sheet, while OpenAI recently announced a capital raise of more than $10 billion, according to the source.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Wednesday that Microsoft would commit $80 billion to the project when asked on CNBC about Musk’s comments.
“All I know is that I’m good with my $80 billion,” Nadella said. “Customers can rely on Microsoft with OpenAI models around the world, serving OpenAI and other models.”
Fox Business understands that the companies involved in Stargate have not decided how they will allocate commitments towards the $500 billion figure. Some may invest more than others in the project.
