What is the ‘Stargate’ AI project?

During his first full day in office, the president made the announcement alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison. The three companies, along with Abu Dhabi-based investment partner MGX, are the initial equity funders in Stargate. Arm, Microsoft, Nvidia, Oracle, and OpenAI are set to be the project’s key initial technology partners.

Oracle said in a statement the project aims to support the “re-industrialization of the United States,” providing 100,000 jobs and boosting capabilities to protect the “national security of America and its allies.”

Here’s how the Stargate project will work.

Key Players

OpenAI and SoftBank are the lead partners for Stargate.

SoftBank is set to take on financial responsibility, while OpenAI will assume operational responsibility; SoftBank chief Son will chair the project.

In a blog post, OpenAI said the project also builds on the company’s existing partnership with Microsoft, while establishing a new one with Oracle.

“As part of Stargate, Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system. This builds on a deep collaboration between OpenAI and NVIDIA going back to 2016 and a newer partnership between OpenAI and Oracle,” the company said.

“OpenAI will continue to increase its consumption of Azure as OpenAI continues its work with Microsoft with this additional compute to train leading models and deliver great products and services.”

In a blog post on Tuesday, Microsoft said its exclusive cloud deal with OpenAI was coming to an end and the company had signed a new “right of first refusal” deal. This means Microsoft still gets the first choice on whether to host OpenAI on the cloud, but if Microsoft can’t meet its needs, OpenAI can opt for a rival cloud provider.

$500 billion in funding

Altman, who has been arguing for the need for more investment in data centers in the U.S., called Stargate the “most important project of this era.”

The joint venture will invest an initial $100 billion of private capital to fund U.S. AI infrastructure, with a further $400 billion expected over the next four years.

Trump said he would help with other emergency declarations to get more AI infrastructure off the ground, citing the need to keep AI development in the U.S. He’s expected to issue a spate of executive orders to ensure new data centers built in connection with the investment will have enough energy.

A boost for Big Tech

The announcement may help assure investors that the AI boom still has room run.

Big Tech stocks saw a boost following the announcement, with Stargate partner Oracle stock finishing regular trading up by 7% on Tuesday.

Wedbush’s Dan Ives said the project was likely just the start of a wave of U.S. AI investments and may help soothe investors nervous about the pace of the AI boom.

“We ultimately believe another $1 trillion of U.S. AI investments could be committed by the rest of the Big Tech world as momentum builds in Silicon Valley,” Ives said in a note. “This comes at a critical juncture as we expect Trump to aggressively court more AI investments in the U.S. with the China tariff negotiations in the background—all part of a broader game of high-stakes poker with China.”

Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group, noted that Trump’s promise to fast-track these projects using emergency declarations and executive orders further “highlights the urgency and scale of this economic shift.”

It’s unclear what impact the project will have on OpenAI’s competitors, including Elon Musk’s xAI and Google, but Trump is expected to aggressively court AI investments and approach regulation in the U.S. with a light touch. On Monday, Trump also revoked a 2023 executive order signed by the Biden administration that aimed to reduce the risks posed by AI to consumers, workers, and national security.