Musk: 'They don't actually have the money' for Trump-touted Stargate project
Tech billionaire Elon Musk voiced doubts about President Trump's newly announced infrastructure plan for artificial intelligence, claiming that the technology companies behind the effort do not yet have the $500 billion promised for the project.
Trump on Tuesday announced a joint project, called Stargate, which will invest up to $500 billion over the next four years to build the infrastructure to support AI development. OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank are the initial equity investors for the project.
Musk, responding to OpenAI's statement on the project on his social media platform X, wrote, "They don't actually have the money."
"SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority," he added.
Musk's comment was a notable break from Trump's optimistic tone Tuesday. Musk is leading Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE), which is expected to focus on reducing government spending and regulations, and has already secured a White House email address.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chief technology officer, joined Trump for the announcement at the White House.
Masayoshi joined Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate in December for an announcement that his company planned to invest $100 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. At the time, Trump pressed the SoftBank leader to double his investment to $200 billion on the spot. Masayoshi laughed and said he would “try to make it happen.”
“Now I come back with $500,” Masayoshi said on Tuesday at the White House.
The president called it the “greatest AI infrastructure project by far in history” and nodded to the foreign competition the U.S. faces regarding emerging technology.
The newer AI technology, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot, requires an exhaustive amount of power to build and maintain the tools. The Department of Energy estimated last month the energy demand for U.S. data centers tripled over the past 10 years and is expected to double or triple by 2028.
Altman said he was "thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America" and added he thinks the companies would not be able to do it without Trump.
Trump called Altman the “leading expert” on AI and described the group of tech leaders as a “massive group of talent and money.”
Musk, who owns the AI firm xAI, has had a tumultuous relationship with Altman in recent years. He is currently suing Altman and OpenAI, alleging the AI company that Musk helped found in 2015 has abandoned its original mission.
The Hill reached out to the White House, OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle for further comment.