US tech giants announce AI plans worth up to $500 billion

OpenAI is teaming up with Oracle and SoftBank to build data centers equipped to power artificial intelligence (AI), with plans to invest $100 billion “immediately.”

US President Donald Trump, who was accompanied by the owners of the three companies at the White House, said the plan was “a tremendous declaration of confidence in America’s ability”.

OpenAI has previously called for greater investment in infrastructure to support AI and has stressed government support for those plans.

ChatGate-maker and SoftBank said the joint venture, called Stargate, intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years.

“I think this will be the most important project of this era,” said Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI.

Despite work already underway on the project, he credited Trump, saying, “We couldn’t do it without you, Mr. President.”

According to Trump, the plan includes building AI infrastructure such as data centers, which is expected to create more than 100,000 jobs.

Larry Ellison, Oracle’s chief technology office, said the first data center is under construction in Texas and more will be built in other locations.

Technology news website, The Information, first reported on the project in March last year.

OpenAI said the announcement of the new company, which also includes UAE-backed investor MGX, was the culmination of more than a year of negotiations.

Other partners in the project include tech giants Microsoft, Arm, and NVIDIA, according to statements from SoftBank and OpenAI.

OpenAI kicked off the AI ​​race in 2022 with the launch of its ChatGPT bot, which provided live answers to questions and demonstrated rapid advancements in technology.

This has driven huge investment, including the specialized data centers needed to power the computing.

But the projected increase in demand for the centres, which will require huge amounts of electricity to run and money to build, has raised concerns about the impact on energy supplies and raised questions about the role of foreign investors.

In his final act at the White House, former President Joe Biden put forward rules that would restrict the export of AI-related chips to dozens of countries around the world, a move he said would help the US regulate the industry.

He also issued orders related to the development of data centers on government land, highlighting the role of clean energy in powering the centres.

The latest investment plans are not unusual in the context of the industry.

Microsoft, one of the major backers of OpenAI, said earlier this month that it is on track Investing $80 billion to build AI-powered data centers This year.

This also includes $100 billion venture that also includes Backrock And AI is focused on data center investing.

Amazon announced it was pouring money into the sector on a similar scale Two projects Each of the last two months is worth about $10 billion.

In A report from last yearMcKinsey said global demand for data center capacity will more than triple by 2030, growing between 19% and 27% annually through 2030.

For developers to meet that demand, the consultancy estimates that at least twice as much capacity will have to be built by 2030 as has been done since 2000.

But analysts have warned that the process is likely to be hampered by issues such as power and land shortages and permissions.