Elon Musk and Sam Altman take to social media to battle over Stargate

Billionaire Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman battle it out on X StargateA huge infrastructure project to build data centers for OpenAI in the US

Announced during a White House press conference on Tuesday, Stargate will pump $500 billion from investors including SoftBank and Middle Eastern AI fund MGX into data centers to support OpenAI’s artificial intelligence workloads. The partners in Stargate initially pledged $100 billion, part of which would go toward a data center under construction in Abilene, Texas.

Elon Musk claims Stargate doesn’t have the money he says it has.

“Actually, they have no money,” Musk wrote series of writings at X on Tuesday. “SoftBank has over $10 billion in collateral. I have good authority.”

SoftBank has over $10 billion in collateral. I have good authority.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2025

Musk is certainly not a neutral party. He has his own AI company, xAI, which competes with OpenAI and is currently in litigation. xAI and Musk in suit to accuse OpenAI of anti-competitive practices, including discouraging investors from supporting AI competitors.

Altman returned fire In a post on Wednesday, X called Musk — and his bluff.

“Wrong, as you know,” Altman said in response to Musk’s claim that SoftBank lacked capital. “(Stargate) is great for the country. I understand that what’s good for the country isn’t always what’s best for your companies, but in your new role, I hope you’ll fundamentally put America first.”

wrong, as you surely know.

Want to visit the first site?

great for this country. I understand that what’s good for the country isn’t always what’s best for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll basically put 🇺🇸 first.

— Sam Altman (@sama) January 22, 2025

Musk was recently named head of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), a US government advisory commission that recommends cuts to federal agencies. DOGE was further formalized by an executive order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday, but the commission faces a number of legal challenges.

xAI, like OpenAI, is committed to the infrastructure for developing AI systems. Musk’s company is estimated Memphis, Tennessee spent $12 billion on a single data center could spend billions more facility improvement.

Asked about Musk’s X posts during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a close collaborator and investor in OpenAI, declined to comment. ” he said, referring to Microsoft’s recent work pledge to spend a record amount on AI data centers this year.