WASHINGTON — Shortly after President Donald Trump announced a new $500 billion artificial intelligence project funded in part by OpenAI and SoftBank, Elon Musk said on his social media platform, two companies didn’t have enough money to make it happen.
Asset announced the Stargate project at a White House event on Tuesday, alongside project investors Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, Masayoshi Son, founder of SoftBank, and Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corp. OpenAI followed the event with an announcement about X, saying it would invest “over the next four years in building new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States.” We will immediately begin deploying $100 billion.
Musk responded hours later to say that OpenAI didn’t “actually have the money” and that “Softbank got way less than $10 billion.”
OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle each plan to invest $100 billion in the project over the next four years.
In December, then-President-elect Trump announced that SoftBank would invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years, but he did not specify what those projects would be. SoftBank is a Japanese technology group that invests in various companies, including search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, technology company Nvidia and OpenAI.
In addition to leading electric vehicle company Tesla, rocket company SpaceX and social media platform X, Musk also owns a majority stake in an artificial intelligence startup, xAI, which he founded in 2023. December, Musk had raised $12 billion. for the company. According to its website, xAI’s mission is to advance scientific discovery and gain a deeper understanding of the universe.
OpenAI is valued at $157 billion. It has received investments from Microsoft, Nvidia, Softbank, Citi and Fidelity Investments.
After spending more than $200 million to help Trump get elected, Musk became one of his closest advisors.
Musk was also an early investor in OpenAI when it was founded in 2015 and co-chaired its board alongside Altman. Musk resigned from the board in early 2018, a move that OpenAI said – at the time – would avoid conflicts of interest as it recruited AI talent to develop self-driving technology at Tesla.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded to Musk’s skepticism, saying he was “wrong” about the company’s finances and inviting him for an on-site visit. Oracle’s Ellison said Tuesday that the project’s first data centers are already under construction in Texas and will be expanded.
“This is great for the country,” Altman wrote on X, in response to Musk. “I realize that what is great for the country is not always what is optimal for your businesses, but in your new role, I hope you put (America) first.”
Trump named Musk to head his Department of Government Effectiveness in November. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order creating DOGE with the goal of “modernizing federal technology and software to maximize government efficiency and productivity.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.