$100 Billion AI Investment Unveiled by Trump, SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle

President Donald Trump unveiled a massive $100 billion joint venture aimed at accelerating AI development, partnering with SoftBank Group Corp., OpenAI, and Oracle Corp. The initiative, as reported by Bloomberg, was described as an "immediate" investment that will ultimately reach at least $500 billion, aiming to establish AI infrastructure including data centers and physical campuses.

"We’re starting off with tremendous investment coming into our country at levels that nobody’s really ever seen before," Trump stated at the White House on Tuesday, alongside SoftBank's Masayoshi Son, OpenAI's Sam Altman, and Oracle's Larry Ellison.

The joint venture is expected to attract participation from other tech giants such as Microsoft and Nvidia, reflecting the administration's broader strategy to solidify US leadership in AI through private-sector investment. Trump has pledged to streamline permitting processes and reduce regulations to further incentivize these investments. Key tech industry figures within the administration, including David Sacks and Elon Musk, are driving these efforts.

Trump highlighted the use of emergency declarations and executive actions to expedite construction projects, particularly by facilitating energy access for data centers. During their remarks, the president and executives emphasized the potential of AI to stimulate economic growth and benefit various sectors, including healthcare.

"AI holds incredible promise for all of us, for every American," noted Oracle's Larry Ellison.

The announcement sparked significant market reactions, with shares of SoftBank, Nvidia, Oracle, and Arm Holdings Plc. experiencing notable rallies. The broader market also saw a positive response, with over 400 S&P 500 stocks rising on Tuesday.

However, uncertainty remains regarding the actual scale of new commitments. Son's previous announcement of a $100 billion investment over Trump's presidential term, from which this initiative is derived, has raised questions about funding sources. Ellison indicated that some data centers involved in the project are already under construction, while OpenAI has previously outlined substantial plans for AI infrastructure investments.

Trump's recent focus on bolstering AI infrastructure follows his previous announcement of a $20 billion investment in new data centers from Dubai-based billionaire Hussain Sajwani. Upon taking office, he rescinded AI regulations imposed by the previous administration and implemented measures to enhance US energy production to meet the growing demand from data centers.

Despite the significant investment, skepticism persists about whether this initiative, dubbed "Stargate" by the companies, represents a substantial departure from prior plans. The previous $100 billion pledge from SoftBank raised concerns about funding sources, given the company's cash reserves at the time.

OpenAI's Sam Altman, who has been working to build a global coalition to support AI development, emphasized the scale of the investment and its implications for technological advancement. The investment aligns with the broader trend of cloud infrastructure providers like Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle expanding their computing capacity through data center construction. Oracle, in particular, is projected to double its capital expenditures this fiscal year, driven largely by these projects.

"The scale of this investment obviously is huge," Altman stated. "And what I think that says about the likely progress of the technology, at least what all of us believe, is correspondingly huge."