If you’ve been keeping up with Donald Trump’s moves since the end of the 2024 election, you likely already know that the newly inaugurated president has taken numerous meetings with CEOs and industry leaders in the world of tech, including those from OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle. According to the latest White House press briefing, Trump has united the forces of the aforementioned corporations under the umbrella of “Stargate,” in an effort to create a massive push for artificial intelligence infrastructure. For now, there are still plenty of questions regarding Stargate, and even a few critiques from high-ranking Trump cabinet picks arguing that the respective parties simply don’t have the funds to pull it off.
Still, the New York Stock Exchange seems to be brimming with the news, as shown by the latest returns of each of the parties involved. The Stargate venture is poised to cost more than $500 billion when it’s all said and done, so many people in the world of tech and government alike are determined to keep their finger on the pulse as the saga unravels. In order to garner a full understanding of Stargate, let’s unpack what Trump and his associates have said about the landmark deal, explore the positive and negative elements of the Stargate game plan and see what we can learn about the future of AI infrastructure.
What Is Stargate?
If the title of this new project sounds familiar to you, it may be because Trump and company lifted it directly from the science fiction franchise owned by Amazon MGM Studios. The “Stargate” film and television ventures center on a military program making use of a ring-shaped wormhole, which is capable of transporting human travelers across massive distances in space and time. In real life, the Stargate project will mostly consist of the construction of new data centers, processing firms and microchips, plus the increased use of AI in fields such as science and medicine. Some new data centers have already begun construction in cities with a major tech sector, such as Abilene, Texas.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison specifically told the press that he’s interested in exploring the use of AI in blood tests, vaccinations and cancer prevention, especially once the Stargate project takes off. Japanese investment firm Softbank is poised to handle most of the funding for the operation, following up a recent pledge to funnel over $100 billion into American-owned tech over the course of the next four years. OpenAI, the company responsible for developing generative AI models like ChatGPT, is expected to be the largest developer in the Stargate network, with Oracle and others following their blueprint. If all goes according to plan, the entire affair could bring hundreds of thousands of new tech and engineering jobs to the United States.
How Has Stargate Impacted The Stock Market?
Though Stargate is still a very fresh prospect, savvy investors have already started closely analyzing the stock prices for Softbank, Oracle and more. At the time of this writing, Oracle (ORCL on the NYSE) is sitting at a month-long high of over $186 per share, up from just $166 at the start of the year. Softbank (SFTBY) has seen a similar rise from $28.95 per share on January 1 to $33.40 in the days since the initial announcement. Of course, Softbank has a much wider scope of market capital and multinational investments, so its shares are diluted further than the other companies involved. OpenAI is a privately owned company, and not traded on any stock exchange, though the Sam Altman-led venture has seen massive investments from numerous outlets and has even been involved in Hollywood meetings regarding the future of AI in the film industry.
Trump himself has also recently taken to the cryptocurrency industry, with a pair of meme coins launched days before he took his inaugural oath for the second time. The coins each have billions of dollars in market share capital, which has left some POTUS critics with major concerns over national security and the possibility of untraceable bribes. For now, no such financial impropriety has been found by any formal investigation, though some conspiracy theorists believe that Trump’s coins were launched as a means to court massive financial interests such as Softbank.
What Are The Critics Saying About Stargate?
One key critic of the Stargate plan is close Trump associate Elon Musk, who took to social media after the announcement to deride the companies involved in the plan. According to a report in CBS News, Musk has stated, “They don’t actually have the money. SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.” Long-time Musk rival Sam Altman replied to the South African billionaire and emerald mine profiteer by simply arguing, “Wrong, as you surely know.” Though the X owner has a vested interest in denigrating the Stargate plan, other economists have also cast doubt on the financial goals of Trump’s latest venture. Some have even pointed towards POTUS’ previous partnership with Softbank during his first term, which fell significantly short of its planned investment figures.
For now, there’s no way of knowing how this will all play out. As Stargate continues to build, it seems clear that the looming concept of AI being a part of all facets of life is only growing stronger. Hopefully, this venture will make harnessing the power of AI better for general consumers, and avoid certain pitfalls held by existing models. Trump’s early decision to remove Biden-era guardrails for American policy on AI has raised alarm bells for many inside analysts, but it’s too soon to say for sure how this ripple effect will seep into things like search engine functionality and algorithmic content strategies.
