Trump announces $500 billion private investment in AI infrastructure Via Reuters

Written by Steve Holland

(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced private sector investment of up to $500 billion to support artificial intelligence infrastructure, with the aim of outpacing rival countries in business-critical technology .

Trump said that ChatGPT developer OpenAI, SoftBank ( TYO: ) and Oracle ( NYSE: ) are planning a joint venture called Stargate, which he said will build data centers and create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States.

These companies, along with Stargate’s other equity backers, have committed $100 billion for immediate deployment, with the remaining investment expected to occur over the next four years.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison joined Trump at the White House for the launch.

The first of the project’s data centers is already being built in Texas, Ellison said at a press conference. He said that twenty will be built, each half a million square feet. The project could power AI that analyzes electronic health records and help doctors care for their patients, Ellison said.

Executives gave Trump credit for the news. “We wouldn’t have decided to do this,” Son told Trump, “unless you win.”

“For AGI to be built here,” said Altman, referring to a more powerful technology called “artificial general intelligence,” we could not have done this without you, Mr. President.

It was not immediately clear whether the announcement was an update to a previously reported business.

In March 2024, The Information, a technology news website, reported that OpenAI and Microsoft (NASDAQ:) were working on plans for a $100 billion data center project that would include an artificial “supercomputer” that would also called “Stargate” will start in 2028.

POWER-RELEASE DATA ISSUES

The announcement on Trump’s second day in office follows the rollback of former President Joe Biden’s executive order on AI, which was intended to reduce the risks AI poses to consumers, workers and national security.

AI requires massive computing power, pushing the need for specialized data centers that enable tech companies to connect thousands of shifts together in clusters.

“They have to produce a lot of electricity, and we’re going to make it possible for that production to be done easily in their plants if they want to,” Trump said.

As US energy consumption rises from AI data centers and the integration of infrastructure and transportation, nearly half of the country is at high risk of power shortages in the next decade. American Electric (NASDAQ:) Reliability Corporation said in December.

As a candidate in 2016, Trump promised to push a $1 trillion service bill through Congress but did not do so. He spoke about the topic many times during his first term as president from 2017 to 2021, but he never gave a big investment, and “Infrastructure Week” became a symbol.

Oracle shares were up 7% on a pre-project report earlier in the day. Nvidia (NASDAQ:), The hand Holdings (NASDAQ: ) and Dell (NYSE: ) shares also rose.

Investment in AI has increased since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, as companies across industries have sought to incorporate artificial intelligence into their products and services.