'They Don't Have The Money,' Elon Musk Says Of $500B OpenAI-SoftBank-Oracle AI Project Stargate

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced Stargate, the largest artificial intelligence infrastructure project in the country that will see $500 billion in investments into the American economy and is expected to create up to 100,000 jobs.

Trump made the big announcement Tuesday night, saying AI titan OpenAI, Japanese investment holding company SoftBank, and cloud and AI giant Oracle are working on the venture.

What is Stargate?

According to the president, Stargate is "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history, and it's all taking place right here in America."

Trump noted how competition around AI is speeding up. As has been the case over the years, China is one of the top competitors, but other western nations are also picking up speed and Trump seeks to lead the entire race.

"It's great that you're all coming together. That's a massive group of talent and money," Trump said of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank Group Chairman and CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle Executive Chairman Larry Ellison.

"At least" $500 billion will be invested into the giant project, Trump said, and "almost immediately," some 100,000 jobs will be created under the project.

In a statement following Trump's announcement, OpenAI revealed key details of the project:

• $100 billion will immediately be deployed for the project;
• SoftBank's Son will chair the project;
• Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI will be the key initial tech partners;
• Infrastructure building will kick off immediately starting in Texas;
• The initial equity funders are SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX;
• SoftBank has the "financial responsibility" for the project;
• OpenAI covers the "operational responsibility."

Elon Musk, Other X Users Raise Trust Issues

Responding to OpenAI's statement on X regarding Stargate, tech titan Elon Musk had this to say: "They don't actually have the money," suggesting that the project may not be able to cover the massive funds needed to complete the project. "SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority," he added.

For other X users, money is not just the issue. "Giving Altman partial control of $500 billion for AI is a terrible idea. He has no moral compass," said one user. He also argued that Son, whom Trump called his "friend," had poor investment judgment, specifically in SoftBank's WeWork funding.

Once a very valuable startup, Adam Neumann's WeWork filed for bankruptcy after its office-sharing dreams failed to materialize. SoftBank was one of the startup's major investors.

Another user had similar sentiments, saying Altman is "a known bad actor and OpenAI's balance sheet is anemic," while SoftBank's fundraising strategies have been put into question following WeWork's collapse.

The Justice for Suchir Balaji movement also said they were very concerned that the Trump government was "working with a company that might have murdered one of their whistleblowers."

Balaji was a former OpenAI employee who said his former employer violated U.S. copyright laws. The young engineer was found dead in his San Francisco apartment late in November, about a month after The New York Times featured his concerns in a profile. Authorities said at the time, there was no evidence of foul play in the initial investigation.

Balaji's mother, Rao Poornima, has asked for a comprehensive probe into his death, reiterating that the family doesn't believe Balaji took his own life. She has been advocating non-stop for federal assistance in her fight to know what happened in her son's apartment on the day he died.

Stargate has yet to respond to concerns about the project. Still, it is a trending topic on X for users, who are apparently divided over the news, given the president's support.