The Stargate Project Is the Latest Effort to Keep the United States Ahead on AI
The Stargate Project is a massive AI initiative that will be funded by private money.
Published Jan. 22 2025, 10:07 a.m. ET
Amidst a flurry of executive orders that Donald Trump has released during his first few days in office, he announced the Stargate Project, a new federal investment opportunity designed to keep the United States ahead on artificial intelligence. The news of the project has left many wondering what exactly it is, and how long it's been in the works.
The U.S. has been working on building AI infrastructure for years, but this new initiative would signal a massive investment. Here's what we know.
What is the Stargate Project?
The Stargate Project is a new initiative that partners the federal government with several private AI companies for the creation of new data centers. In announcing the program, President Trump said that it will create more than 100,000 new jobs in the United States.
The project is funded by private sector investment, which OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle, as well as several other backers of the project committing $100 billion for the first year.
“Immediately, Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI,” Trump explained. “And this will include the construction of colossal data centers.”
Larry Ellison, the CEO of Oracle, said that 20 data centers will be built in total, each of them covering half a million square feet. The first are already under construction in Texas.
Project Stargate might not be anything new.
Although Trump made a splash about announcing this new investment, it's not clear whether this initiative is anything different than the ventures that AI companies have already launched.
It was previously reported in March of 2024 that Microsoft and OpenAI were partnering on a project of the same name that would involve building data centers to support the needs of artificial intelligence.
“AI seems to be very hot. It seems to be the thing that a lot of smart people are looking at very strongly. And our country will be prospering like never before,” Trump said. “It is going to be the golden age of America.”
Clearly versed in the details, it seems like this White House announcement may have just been done so that Trump could take credit for an initiative that was already underway.
The data centers are crucial to the future of artificial intelligence because of the sheer amount of computing power required for something like ChatGPT.
"They have to produce a lot of electricity, and we'll make it possible for them to get that production done very easily at their own plants if they want," Trump explained, illuminating the way the federal government might plug into this broader project.
These data centers might lead to good-paying jobs, but they are also a major draw on power at a time when concerns about emissions are already at an all-time high. Artificial intelligence continues to race forward, and it's clear that Trump isn't too concerned about the consequences that all of these data centers might have for the climate.