Trump Announces Stargate: $500 Billion AI Infrastructure Investment in the U.S.
President Donald Trump has continued his whirlwind pace of executive orders and announcements by introducing the Stargate Project, a massive artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure initiative that will be privately funded.
This project involves a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank, with an initial investment of $100 billion, potentially expanding to $500 billion over the next four years. “Stargate” is the name of the company that was formed to make this plan a reality.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison appeared at the White House Tuesday afternoon alongside President Donald Trump to announce the company, which Trump called the “largest AI infrastructure project in history.”The companies will invest $100 billion in the project to start, with plans to pour up to $500 billion Stargate in the coming years. The project is expected to create 100,000 US jobs, Trump said.Stargate will build “the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of AI,” including data centers around the country, Trump said. Ellison said the group’s first, 1 million-square foot data project is already under construction in Texas.AI leaders have for months been sounding the alarm that more data centers — as well as the chips and electricity and water resources to run them — are needed to power their artificial intelligence ambitions in the coming years.
The announcement was tied with Trump’s “Golden Age” messaging, and the corporate heads were keen to stress the importance of this infrastructure project.
“This will be the most important project of this era,” said Altman, CEO of OpenAI.Ellison noted that the data centers are already under construction with 10 being built so far. The chairman of Oracle suggested that the project was also tied to digital health records and would make it easier to treat diseases such as cancer by possibly developing a customized vaccine.“This is the beginning of golden age,” said Son, referencing Trump’s statement that the U.S. would be in a “golden age” with him back in the White House.Son, a billionaire based in Japan, already committed in December to invest $100 billion in U.S. projects over the next four years. He previously committed to $50 billion in new investments ahead of Trump’s first term, which included a large stake in the troubled office-sharing company WeWork.
I have often noted that nuclear energy currently has the highest energy capacity. It and fossil fuels are the only two civilization-worth fuel sources available to maintain the living standard we currently enjoy.
I have also noted that AI processes use vast amounts of energy.
For years, data centers displayed a remarkably stable appetite for power, even as their workloads mounted. Now, as the pace of efficiency gains in electricity use slows and the AI revolution gathers steam, Goldman Sachs Research estimates that data center power demand will grow 160% by 2030.At present, data centers worldwide consume 1-2% of overall power, but this percentage will likely rise to 3-4% by the end of the decade. In the US and Europe, this increased demand will help drive the kind of electricity growth that hasn’t been seen in a generation. Along the way, the carbon dioxide emissions of data centers may more than double between 2022 and 2030.
Nuclear power is an option. In fact, Microsoft powered up the old Three Mile Island facility to power one of their AI units.
Interestingly, Trump’s executive order titled “Unleashing American Energy” specifically includes nuclear energy as one of the domestic energy resources to be developed. This order directs an immediate review of agency actions that potentially burden the development of domestic energy resources, with particular attention given to nuclear energy.
Additionally, the order instructs the US Geological Survey to consider updating its list of critical minerals, potentially including uranium, which is essential for nuclear energy production.
I suspect that our nuclear energy capacity will be substantially expanded along with our AI infrastructure.
In the meantime, enjoy the fun StarGate references if you are a fan of the show (which I am).
Thus, the winning continues.
And, finally:
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