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President Donald Trump. Picture: JAY PAUL/REUTERS
President Donald Trump. Picture: JAY PAUL/REUTERS

Washington — US President Donald Trump is due to announce private sector investment of up to $500bn to fund artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure on Tuesday, two sources said on Tuesday. 

OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle plan a Texas-based joint venture called Stargate, and have committed $100bn initially and then up to $500bn into Stargate over the next four years, the sources said.

Trump will make an announcement about infrastructure at the White House later on Tuesday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News. CBS first reported the details of the expected announcement.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Oracle’s Larry Ellison were due at the White House on Tuesday, according to the CBS report. Oracle and SoftBank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

As a candidate in 2016, Trump promised to push a $1-trillion infrastructure bill through Congress but did not. He talked about the topic as president often during his first term from 2017 to 2021, but never delivered on a large investment, and “Infrastructure Week” became a punchline.

Oracle shares were up 6% on the reports. Nvidia, Arm Holdings and Dell shares also rose.

In March 2024, The Information, a technology news website, reported OpenAI and Microsoft were working on plans for a $100bn data centre project that would include an AI supercomputer also called Stargate set to launch in 2028.

Investment in AI has surged since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, as companies across sectors seek to integrate artificial intelligence into their products and services.

AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialised data centres that enable tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters.

As US power consumption rises from AI data centres and the electrification of buildings and transportation, about half of the country is at increased risk of power supply shortfalls in the next decade, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation said in December.

Reuters

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