SoftBank, OpenAI launch $500 billion AI infrastructure project, Masayoshi Son named chairman

SoftBank Group and OpenAI have announced "The Stargate Project", a $500 billion initiative to build AI infrastructure across the US, with Masayoshi Son taking the role of chairman. The four-year project will begin with an immediate $100 billion deployment, OpenAI said in a statement.

The investment brings together an alliance of tech giants. While SoftBank and OpenAI are lead partners—with SoftBank handling financials and OpenAI managing operations—Oracle and MGX have also joined as equity funders.



Arm, Microsoft, Nvidia, and Oracle will serve as key technology partners. Initial construction is underway in Texas, with plans to expand to multiple sites across the country.

The project maintains OpenAI's existing partnership with Microsoft, with the company set to increase its use of Azure cloud services. Meanwhile, Nvidia will build on its longstanding collaboration with OpenAI dating back to 2016.

"This investment will re-industrialise America…But more importantly, it gives OpenAI the computing power it needs for AGI research,” OpenAI said in a statement.

The infrastructure buildout aims to create hundreds of thousands of American jobs while strengthening US leadership in artificial intelligence. The project has received support from both tech industry leaders and national security officials., as per the statement. This also builds on the existing OpenAI partnership with Microsoft. OpenAI will continue to increase its consumption of Azure as OpenAI continues its work with Microsoft with this additional compute to train leading models and deliver great products and services.

“All of us look forward to continuing to build and develop AI—and in particular AGI—for the benefit of all of humanity. We believe that this new step is critical on the path, and will enable creative people to figure out how to use AI to elevate humanity,” Open AI said.