Stargate artificial intelligence project to exclusively serve OpenAI

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The high-quality artificial intelligence infrastructure project trumpeted by Donald Trump this week will exclusively bite CraTgpt Maker Openai, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company planned to spend $100 billion Great technology Infrastructure projects to raise $500 billion over the next four years, Openai and Softbank, STARGATE’s two mainstays, said Tuesday. Oracle and Abu Dhabi State AI Fund MGX are also founding partners.

Trumpet praised the Softbank-backed initiative Optics’ chief business and other technology leaders attended the White House event on Tuesday as a “statement of confidence in America’s potential under a new president.”

Despite the bright announcement, stargate has not yet secured, which requires that it will not receive government funding and will only serve Open After graduation, people familiar with the initiative said.

“The goal is not to become a data center provider, that’s for Openai,” one of the people said.

Another person close to the project says it is far from a fully developed plan.

Softbank and Openai plan to put up more than $15 billion each for the project. The companies hope to raise a combination of equity and debt to fund Stargate shares, according to one of the people.

Openai and Softbank declined to comment.

Altman has spent more than a year working on Openai’s access to data and computing, which he claims the company needs to achieve in its employable skills and push the boundaries of scientific research.

That means it looks at Openai’s exclusive relationship with Microsoft. The group, which has invested $13 billion in Openai and has rights to nearly half of the startup’s profit-making subsidiary, is providing technology support to Stargate, but not capital. :

Microsoft launched its own $30 billion AI infrastructure fund in September of last year, and on Wednesday, Chief Executive Satya Nadella will spend $80 billion on his own this year.

Altman has been talking to the son of Softbank’s chair for two years about AI projects, including a A new AI deviceaccording to people familiar with the discussions.

SoftBank also invested in Openai in a $6.6 billion fundraising round in October, valuing it at $157 billion, the Financial Times reported on the Japanese group. planned to buy more $1.5 billion in the company in November. Son and Altman began detailed talks about Stargate before this week’s announcement, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Although Altman’s infrastructure plans have been well under way for a year, the idea of ​​announcing it at the White House was not in the works. [as long]“According to one person with knowledge of the project.

“There’s a real intention to do that, but the details haven’t been forgotten,” said another person involved in the project.

Stargate is incorporated in the city of Delaware, through Openai, Softbank, and MGX, each of which holds shares in the companies. The group will appoint an independent chief executive and board, according to people with knowledge of the plans.

The company will be divided into an operational division, which proposed to build and operate data centers and manage the unit responsible for gathering Openai and Capital, a person operated by SoftBank.

Work is already underway on the first facility in Abilene, Texas.

Data Center startup Crusoe has been building that foundation for Oracle since June 20, 2023. Crusoe secured $3.4 billion in October to fund its development. Oracle is expected to buy about $7 billion dollar chips to stream the Texas site and will give that computing power to Microsoft, which will use it as Openai Power.

Additional reporting by David Kefane in Tokyo and Stefan Morris in Davos