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.
President Trump has announced a major AI initiative called "Stargate" -- but the firms involved have DEI policies that go against his goal of eliminating such programs.
President Donald Trump talked up a joint venture investing up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to AI by a new partnership formed by OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank.
Last month, Trump announced with SoftBank's Son in Mar-a-Lago that SoftBank would invest $100 billion in US projects over the next four years, creating 100,000 jobs. Those investments will focus on infrastructure that supports AI, including data centers, energy generation, and chips, according to a source.
Calling it the largest AI infrastructure project in history “by far”, Trump said the joint venture called Stargate will build data centres and create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States.
The Stargate announcement prompted immediate skepticism over whether it would come to fruition, or represented new spending by the companies.
Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, Sam Altman of OpenAI and Larry Ellison of Oracle joined Trump for the $500 billion announcement.
President Donald Trump kicked off his second term with a flurry of executive actions on immigration, Jan. 6, health policy and more.
Stocks are approaching records in the first couple of days of Trump's presidency, with more pronounced moves in specific corners of the market this week.
SoftBank ( SFTBY) first made the $100 billion commitment in early December during a visit by founder and CEO Masayoshi Son to Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago.
He also announced private sector investments of up to $500 million to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. Keep up with the USA TODAY news team for updates:Start the day smarter.