Musk undermines Trump's Stargate AI investment announcement

Elon Musk claimed overnight on Tuesday that tech giants OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank don't manage to pay for to satisfy their high-profile pledge to speculate $500 billion in US AI infrastructure.

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX made the comments just hours after President Donald Trump unveiled the huge project on the White House on his first full day in office.

“They actually don’t have the money,” Musk wrote in response to an OpenAI post on his social platform X in regards to the recent company, called the Stargate Project.

“SoftBank has secured significantly less than $10 billion. I have this on good authority,” Musk added in a subsequent post.

Musk is by far Trump's biggest donor within the 2024 election and is currently leading a significant White House government efficiency effort.

On Wednesday morning, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded on to Musk.

“I truly respect your achievements and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” Altman wrote on X.

But Musk's claim about SoftBank's liquidity was “false, as I'm sure you know,” Altman wrote in a follow-up post.

“I realize that what is great for the country is not always what is best for your company, but I hope you will do the most in your new role [American flag emoji] first,” he added.

OpenAI and Oracle didn’t immediately reply to CNBC's request for comment on Musk's claim. Softbank declined to comment.

Musk's post about Softbank was “far from reality,” in line with an individual aware of the AI ​​project who was granted anonymity to debate the situation.

“There is no doubt” that Musk’s troubled relationship with Altman was the catalyst for his posts about Stargate, the person added.

Musk's comments undermined Trump's announcement Tuesday afternoon that Stargate would “invest at least $500 billion” and create “over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.”

“I think it will be very special. It will lead to something that could be the greatest thing of all,” Trump said.

During his speech, Trump was flanked by Altman, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son.

Ellison said on the event that 10 data centers, each 500,000 square feet each, are already being in-built Abilene, Texas, and that 10 more are within the works.

Musk, who leads Trump's recent Advisory Board on Government Efficiency, DOGEHe has a strained relationship with Altman.

In March, Musk and his AI startup xAI sued OpenAI for breach of contract. Musk later dropped the lawsuit and sued Altman in federal court.

Altman's response to

“I may be wrong, but I firmly believe that Elon will do the right thing,” Altman said in December when asked if he was anxious about how Musk might wield his influence within the White House .

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OpenAI said in Tuesday's X statement that Stargate will “immediately begin deploying $100 billion.”

According to the post, Son will probably be chairman of the brand new company, whose initial investors include SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and UAE-based lender MGX.

News of the infrastructure initiative sent Oracle shares up 7% on Tuesday.

OpenAI's contribution can also be listed Microsoft as one in every of its key initial technology partners at Stargate. The company announced earlier this month that it plans to speculate $80 billion in AI-enabled data centers in the subsequent fiscal yr.

Asked about Stargate on CNBC's “Squawk Box” on Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “I'm not particularly specific about what they're investing.”

Asked about Musk's posts questioning Stargate's funding, Nadella replied: “Look, all I know is I'm good for my $80 billion.”

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