By Sam Nussey and Anton Bridge TOKYO (Reuters) -SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son's plan to invest billions in AI in the United States shows one way to handle the new Trump administration: go big and deal with the details later.
SOFTBANK Group and OpenAI each plan to commit US$19 billion of capital to Stargate, the US$100 billion US artificial intelligence (AI) endeavour President Donald Trump unveiled this week, the Information reported.
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO:9984) and OpenAI have each pledged $19 billion to Stargate, a groundbreaking technology initiative focused on AI data centers, The Information reports. OpenAI and SoftBank will each hold a
EFishery Pte, one of Indonesia’s most prominent startups, may have inflated its revenue and profit over several years, according to an internal investigation triggered by a whistleblower’s claim about the company’s accounting.
The ChatGPT maker will hold a 40% interest in Stargate, and would act as an extension of OpenAI, the report said, citing OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaking to colleagues. OpenAI and SoftBank did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.
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 -0.36% + Free Alerts SFTBF + Free Alerts has “well under $10B secured.”
SoftBank Group shares jumped after the company and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI announced plans to invest up to half a trillion dollars in artificial-intelligence infrastructure in the U.S. Shares rose 8.8% to 10,060 yen, or equivalent to $64.69, on Wednesday in Tokyo, after climbing as much as 9.2% earlier, to their highest level since July.
US President Donald Trump announced that OpenAI, SoftBank Group and Oracle will unveil Stargate and invest $500 billion over the next four years to help the United States stay ahead of China and other rivals in the global AI race.
It’s the latest clash in a feud between the two tech billionaires that started on OpenAI’s board and is now testing Musk’s influence with the new president.
The comments marked a rare instance of a split between the world's richest man and Trump, with Musk playing a key role in the newly installed administration after spending $270 million on the election campaign.
The Trump White House has ordered a pause on infrastructure spending approved during the last administration, and is promoting new spending on digital infrastructure to support artificial intelligence.