Tech mogul Elon Musk cast doubt on a $500 billion Artificial Intelligence initiative announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, claiming the promised funding for the project was not actually available. Musk’s comments marked a rare public disagreement between him and Trump, with Musk having played a prominent role in Trump’s administration, notably contributing $270 million to the election campaign.
On Tuesday, Trump revealed plans for a major AI infrastructure project led by Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT. Dubbed “Stargate,” the initiative is expected to invest at least $500 billion into AI infrastructure in the United States.
However, Musk took to his social media platform, X, to challenge the claim, stating that the primary investors did not have the necessary funds to fulfill the promise. He specifically pointed out that “SoftBank has well under $10B secured” and suggested that this information was reliable.
Musk’s comments may be directed at OpenAI, a leading AI startup he helped establish before departing the organization in 2018. Tensions between Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who attended the White House announcement, have been high, with Musk filing multiple lawsuits against the company behind ChatGPT.
The Stargate project plans to invest $100 billion initially, with the potential to reach $500 billion over the next four years. Other stakeholders include Abu Dhabi’s AI-focused state fund MGX, Oracle, SoftBank-owned Arm, and tech giants Microsoft and Nvidia, who will provide technology support. The project has already started constructing a data center in Texas, marking the beginning of the initiative.
Before taking office, Trump had also announced a $20 billion investment from the UAE in U.S. data centers, alongside earlier pledges from SoftBank.
