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The duo outlined the plans to start deploying $100 billion right away and eventually increase that to around $500 billion. The company announced plans to open a $1 billion facility in Norway in 2026. SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman introduced the Stargate initiative in January.
SoftBank Group Corp. has announced that its $500 billion “Stargate” artificial intelligence project with OpenAI in the US is taking longer than expected to get underway. For the first time, the company conceded that the project is “bogging down” as it works to secure consensus among its partners. SoftBank is in the process of forging a consensus with partners, including Oracle and Abu Dhabi’s MGX, according to SoftBank’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Yoshimitsu Goto. SoftBank expects to begin “concrete” negotiations for its first Stargate data centre site soon. Last month, OpenAI expanded its “Stargate” data centre project to Europe. This development followed earlier remarks from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who, in January, had questioned OpenAI’s financial capability to execute its large-scale infrastructure ambitions, stating the company “don’t actually have the money.”
However, progress has stalled, with no fundraising or data centre construction underway so far.
The company is now also in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) and others about potentially participating in a $1 trillion AI manufacturing project in Arizona, the report adds.
Discussions around Stargate have slowed, influenced by market fluctuations, uncertainty around US trade policy, and concerns about the valuation of AI hardware, according to a previous Bloomberg report from May.