Trump announces up to $677b in AI infrastructure investment

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Jan 21 announced private sector investment of up to US$500 billion (S$677 billion) to fund artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, aiming to outpace rival nations in the business-critical technology.

Mr Trump said ChatGPT’s creator OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle are planning a joint venture called Stargate, which he said will build data centres and create more than 100,000 jobs in the US.

These companies, along with other equity backers of Stargate, have committed US$100 billion for immediate deployment, with the remaining investment expected to occur over the next four years.

SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle founder Larry Ellison joined Mr Trump at the White House for the launch.

The first of the project’s data centres are already under construction in Texas, Mr Ellison said at the press conference. He added that 20 will be built, at half a million square feet each.

The project could power AI that analyses electronic health records and helps doctors care for their patients, Mr Ellison said.

The executives gave Mr Trump credit for the news. “We wouldn’t have decided to do this,” Mr Son told Mr Trump, “unless you won”.

Mr Altman, referring to more powerful technology called artificial general intelligence (AGI), said: “For AGI to get built here, we wouldn’t be able to do this without you, Mr President.”

It was not immediately clear if the announcement was an update to a previously reported venture.

In March 2024, The Information – a technology news website – reported OpenAI and Microsoft were working on plans for a US$100 billion data centre project that would include an AI supercomputer also called Stargate set to launch in 2028.

The announcement on Mr Trump’s second day in office follows the rolling back of former president Joe Biden’s executive order on AI that was intended to reduce the risks artificial intelligence poses to consumers, workers and national security.

AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialised data centres that enable tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters.

“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,” Mr Trump said.

As US power consumption rises from AI data centres and the electrification of buildings and transportation, about half of the country is at increased risk of power supply shortfalls in the next decade, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation said in December.

As a candidate in 2016, Mr Trump promised to push a US$1 trillion infrastructure Bill through Congress, but did not.

He talked about the topic often during his first term as president from 2017 to 2021, but never delivered on a large investment and “Infrastructure Week” became a punchline.

Oracle shares were up 7 per cent on initial report of the project earlier in the day. Nvidia, Arm Holdings and Dell shares also rose.

Investment in AI has surged since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in 2022, as companies across sectors seek to integrate AI into their products and services. REUTERS