US tech leaders pledging up to $US500bn for AI investment

The joint venture deal — massive even by Silicon Valley standards — includes OpenAI and Oracle among the companies involved.

Open AI chief executive officer Sam Altman. OpenAI has pledged to join a joint venture to develop AI infrastructure. Picture: Al Drago/Getty Images

Three of the world’s most prominent tech companies are pledging they will pour as much as half a trillion dollars into building artificial-intelligence infrastructure in the US, in the latest high-profile initiative timed with the start of the Trump administration.

OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and other partners will start a joint venture called Stargate to build the infrastructure. The companies are committing $US100bn to the venture, planning to invest up to $US500bn over the next four years. Its first project will be Texas.

The $US100bn sum includes some previously announced projects by the tech companies involved, people familiar with the matter said.

Chairman and co-founder of Oracle Larry Ellison. Picture: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

The deal is massive even by Silicon Valley standards and underscores the extent to which tech companies and government officials are betting on artificial intelligence as the future of the American economy. It shows how much tech executives want to broadcast their enthusiasm at the start of the new administration.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Oracle chairman and chief technology officer Larry Ellison went to the White House to announce the deal Tuesday, the second day of the second Trump administration.

The Wall Street Journal