The leaders of three new technology giants were alongside Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, Tuesday January 21, 2025, the day after his inauguration ceremony as President of the United States. They were gathered to announce the Stargate project, a large-scale infrastructure financing program enabling the development of artificial intelligence (AI), reports theAFP.
1. Who is involved in the Stargate Project?
The project will bring together Oracle, the “cloud” specialist, online data hosting; SoftBank, a Japanese investment company and the generative AI start-up OpenAI, behind ChatGPT. According to a joint press release published Tuesday and cited by theAFPStargate is also financially supported by the MGX investment fund, backed by the United Arab Emirates.
Read also: Customs duties, TikTok, AI… Trump multiplies announcements on the second day of his mandate
2. Why such a project?
According to Larry Ellison, the president and co-founder of Oracle, Stargate’s main objective is to finance the construction of data hosting and processing centers allowing the progression of advances in AI. These data centers are necessary for the development of the “cloud” and AI, which require immense storage capacities. “The first ones are already being built in Texas,” he said.
3. What will the investments be used for?
-Donald Trump praised the project, ensuring that it was “the largest infrastructure project dedicated to AI in history”. This new joint company “will build the physical and virtual infrastructures to support the next generation of AI”, he added. According to the American president, Stargate should create “almost immediately more than 100,000 jobs” in the United States.
4. What amounts will be invested?
In total, the project must include investments of“at least $500 billion” in AI infrastructures in the United States. SoftBank boss Masayoshi Son clarified that the joint venture would “start deploying $100 billion immediately,” with the goal of reaching a total of 500 over four years.
These investments “are money that normally would have gone to China or other countries, but more specifically to China,” said the tenant of the White House.
5. And the ecological impact?
Neither the three leaders nor Donald Trump – notoriously climate skeptic – have discussed the environmental impact of such a project. THE data centers are water-intensive and extremely energy-intensive: in the United States, their electricity consumption represents around 4% of that of the country and could double in the next six years.
