A joint venture called The Stargate Project will contribute $500 billion over four years generative AI Infrastructure in the US, representatives from SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle announced in collaboration with President Donald Trump on January 21st.
The joint venture will support infrastructure, including data centers, and contribute to what OpenAI calls a “computing system.”
“This infrastructure will ensure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate tremendous economic benefits for the entire world,” OpenAI wrote in a January 21 post on X (formerly Twitter). “This project will not only support the reindustrialization of the United States, but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”
“It’s about a lot of money and highly qualified people,” Trump said at a press conference in the White House Associated Press.
At least one Texas location confirmed
OpenAI will initially contribute $100 billion to the project, with the other $400 billion coming at an undisclosed pace over the next four years.
According to OpenAI, construction of a data center associated with the project has already begun in Abilene, Texas.
“We are evaluating potential locations across the country for additional campuses as we finalize definitive agreements,” OpenAI wrote.
Oracle Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison said 10 data centers have already been built or are under construction.
SEE: The introduction of AI tends to weaken the chances of companies meeting Sustainability goalssaid a report published in January.
Which companies are involved?
The first equity investors are:
- Japanese telecommunications company SoftBank.
- OpenAI.
- oracle.
- MGX, a technology investment firm based in the United Arab Emirates.
SoftBank will be responsible for the finances of the Stargate project, while OpenAI will handle operations.
Other initial technology partners are:
“This builds on an extensive collaboration between OpenAI and NVIDIA dating back to 2016 and a more recent partnership between OpenAI and Oracle,” OpenAI wrote.
Trump’s administration will pave the way for more data centers in the US, he said on Tuesday The New York Times. This relief may include unspecified “emergency declarations” related to the Stargate Project’s potential captive power generation.
Expanding AI requires rethinking data and energy requirements
“Our current infrastructure is not equipped to handle the demands AI needs to reach full maturity,” Sean Tufts, managing partner of critical infrastructure and operational technology at Optiv, said in an email to TechRepublic. “This team is the perfect triad to encourage a new ecosystem. We bring together the boldest AI company, one of the largest data and cloud companies and one of the most innovative financiers. This is the type of public-private partnership that benefits America’s innovators.”
Tufts suggested that a power generation company join the group to meet electricity needs. In addition to chips, robust data centers and more efficient cooling, energy is one of the pillars required for increased support of generative AI technologies.
The government is relying more on public sector partnerships
The Trump administration has reversed former President Joe Biden’s push initiative To provide guidelines for “safe, secure and trustworthy” generative AI and list them into a group of what the Trump called the White House “unpopular, inflationary, illegal and radical” decisions by the previous government.
Technology companies that may be affected by rapidly changing government support for AI should stay abreast of the changes, including those that may impact international operations or partner companies outside the United States. States can also issue individual implementing regulations on AI and its infrastructure. AI requirements at the state level, for example in New York and Colorado, remain in place.
“Look for patterns in new or emerging state AI laws that follow existing non-AI laws,” Gartner analysts Lydia Clougherty Jones, Frances Karamouzis, Svetlana Sicular and Avivah Litan wrote in a Jan. 14 white paper. “For example, AI algorithm discrimination laws are often duplicates of existing non-AI laws that prohibit certain discriminatory acts.”
Repeal of the 2023 executive order will mean “the dilution of significant federal oversight of model development,” Jones told TechRepublic in an email, “including requirements to provide market-related security training results or notices of acquisition of large-scale computing clusters,” paving the way for optimized innovations in a less government-regulated environment.”
Projects like Stargate show that other AI initiatives may be more likely to end up in private rather than public hands.
“Regardless of the status of EO 2023, strengthening sovereign AI will increase reliance on private sector partnerships,” Jones said.
She pointed out that it is another important regulation related to AI, Promote United States leadership in artificial intelligence infrastructurehas not been revoked. Making the US a powerhouse of AI innovation remains a goal of the new administration.
“Given the significant amount of energy infrastructure required to train AI models, the challenge of accelerating AI development is enormous Energy requirements and consumptionJones said. “With the lifting of the 2023 EO and the announcement of Stargate, we see the convergence of data centers and energy – energy in both the literal sense of energy needs and the figurative sense in terms of U.S. competitive ambitions.”
