Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk cast doubt Wednesday on the ambitious $500 billion Project Stargate, hours after its announcement, claiming lead investor SoftBank Group SFTBY SFTBF has “well under $10B secured.”
What Happened: The project, unveiled Tuesday at a White House briefing in the presence of President Donald Trump, represents a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle Corp. ORCL to establish massive artificial intelligence infrastructure across the United States.
“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk said.
“SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
During the briefing, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison highlighted the project’s healthcare applications, including an AI-driven system capable of delivering personalized cancer vaccines within 48 hours.
SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 22, 2025
Why It Matters: The initiative plans to deploy an initial $100 billion immediately, starting with a 500,000-square-foot data center in Abilene, Texas. Nine additional facilities are planned, with potential expansion to 20 locations.
Technology partners Microsoft Corp. MSFT, NVIDIA Corp. NVDA, and Arm Holdings plc ARM saw their stocks climb on the news. NVIDIA rose 3.95% to $143.15, while Arm jumped 8.94% to $162.60.
OpenAI, maintaining operational responsibility while SoftBank leads financial aspects, stated the project “will secure American leadership in AI” and “create hundreds of thousands of American jobs.” SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son will serve as chairman.
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