President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a major investment in artificial-intelligence infrastructure that calls for OpenAI, SoftBank Group Corp. and Oracle Corp. to create a joint venture named Stargate that will focus on data centers and other infrastructure projects.
Trump described Stargate as “a new American company that will invest $500 billion at least in AI infrastructure in the United States,” promising that it’ll create more than 100,000 American jobs.
Oracle shares were up 15%; ARM Holdings shares rose 6%.
The momentum translated to other AI plays as well, with C3.ai up 6.7%; Nvidia shares up 3.7%; Palantir Technologies, Microsoft up around 3%.
“What we want to do is we want to keep it in this country. China is a competitor, and others are competitors,” Trump said in remarks at the White House. “It’s technology and artificial intelligence all made in the USA.”
The companies plan to put $100 billion into the initiative to start, with plans to get that up to $500 billion over four years, according to a CBS News report. Other companies yet to be named may join Stargate down the road.
“This is a significant opportunity for Oracle, which could be the key infrastructure provider for this massive investment,” Mizuho analyst Siti Panigrahi said in a note to clients.
In his remarks at the White House, Ellison indicated that Oracle had been working with OpenAI and SoftBank before Tuesday’s announcement, saying the initial data centers are already under construction in Texas. “There are 10 buildings currently being built, but that will expand to 20 and other locations beyond the Abilene location, which is our first location,” the Oracle co-founder said.
OpenAI’s Altman said: “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.”
The initiative may be another signal that the Trump administration will be making efforts to work with some tech companies. Top tech executives including Meta Platforms Inc. META Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN Executive Chairman Jeff Bezosattended Trump’s inauguration, and one of the president’s first moves in office was to revoke a Biden-era executive order regarding AI safeguards.
SoftBank CEO Son appeared last month alongside Trump to announce plans to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. Son referred to his December exchange with Trump while speaking at the White House on Tuesday.
“Mr. President, last month I came to celebrate your winning and promise that we will invest $100 billion, and you told me, ‘Oh, Masa, go for 200.’
Now I came back with 500,” Son said.
