During a visit to the White House, Donald Trump met with Masayoshi Son from SoftBank Group, Sam Altman from OpenAI, and Larry Ellison from Oracle to announce the creation of a new company called Stargate. According to what was revealed in the meeting, Stargate plans to initially invest 100 billion dollars, with the long-term goal of reaching 500 billion dollars allocated for the construction of data centers and physical campuses. Trump expressed his opinion on the importance of this initiative.
SoftBank President Masayoshi Son was questioned about the source of funding to carry out this initiative, given that the company does not have the available funds to fulfill the investment promise. Elon Musk, through his social media, questioned the ability of the companies involved in Trump's announcement to contribute the promised amount of money, which exposed internal differences.
Although SoftBank had 25 billion dollars in cash and equivalents in September, its financial situation has strengthened following the initial public offering of Arm Holdings. Son, for his part, has expressed interest in increasing investments in artificial intelligence, seen as a technology with great disruptive potential across various sectors.
SoftBank's 500 million dollar investment in OpenAI last October reflects this strategy, with plans to increase it to 1.5 billion dollars. However, Musk questioned this agreement due to potential conflicts of interest. The public discussion highlights the tensions that could arise during a possible second presidency of Trump.
The promises of investment from private companies made to Trump previously have generated skepticism about the realization of commitments. The announcement of Stargate immediately raised doubts about its viability and whether it will truly represent new spending by the involved companies. Masayoshi Son had already anticipated a significant investment in artificial intelligence during a previous meeting with Trump in December.
