
In a White House briefing on Tuesday, President Donald Trump unveiled the Stargate Project, a $500 billion private sector initiative led by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle. The project, described as the largest AI infrastructure investment in history, aims to transform the United States into a global AI hub while addressing critical challenges like healthcare innovation and job creation.
Key Points
- $500 billion investment led by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle to build AI data centers across the U.S., with construction already underway in Texas.
- Promises 100,000+ jobs, AI-driven healthcare advancements, and national security benefits.
- Microsoft retains API exclusivity with OpenAI through 2030 but loses exclusivity over new cloud capacity.
The project has already broken ground in Abilene, Texas, where Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison revealed that construction is underway on ten 500,000-square-foot data centers, with plans to expand to 20 buildings. The initiative promises to create over 100,000 American jobs "almost immediately," according to the announcement.
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, who will serve as chairman of Stargate, indicated that the venture will begin with an immediate $100 billion deployment. "This is the beginning of a golden age," Son said during the White House briefing. "We wouldn't have decided to do this unless you won," he added, addressing President Trump.
The collaboration extends beyond the founding partners. Additional technology partners include NVIDIA, Arm, and Microsoft, with MGX joining as an investing partner. Microsoft separately announced updates to its OpenAI partnership, maintaining key elements through 2030 while adjusting its cloud provider relationship.
During the briefing, the executives outlined several potential applications of the expanded AI infrastructure. Ellison highlighted healthcare applications, describing how AI could enable doctors in remote locations to access treatment insights from leading medical institutions. "A doctor in an Indian reservation would be able to see how a doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering would treat the patient," Ellison explained.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman emphasized the project's significance for American technological leadership. "I'm thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America. I think this will be the most important project of this era," Altman said at the briefing. He highlighted AI's potential in medical research, suggesting that the technology could accelerate disease treatment breakthroughs.
The initiative includes plans for emergency declarations to facilitate rapid infrastructure development, particularly around power generation for the massive data centers. The administration indicated it would help streamline the process for building on-site energy generation facilities.
Oracle also revealed ongoing work on AI-driven cancer detection and treatment. Ellison described a system combining blood tests for early detection with personalized mRNA vaccine development, potentially delivering custom cancer vaccines within 48 hours of diagnosis.
This announcement comes amid increasing global competition in AI development, particularly with China. The administration framed the initiative as part of a broader strategy to maintain U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence, with President Trump indicating that additional technology investments in the U.S. are expected in the coming weeks.
As Son aptly put it, “This is the beginning of our Golden Age.” Whether the Stargate Project can deliver on its promise remains to be seen, but its ambitions signal a profound shift in America’s AI trajectory.