Elon Musk is fighting with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman Stargate artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project discussed by President Donald Trump, the latest in a feud between the two tech billionaires who started on OpenAI's board and are now testing Musk's influence with the new president.
Trump on Tuesday spoke about a joint venture investing up to $500bn through a new partnership created by OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, together with Oracle and SoftBank.
The new entity, Stargate, is already starting to build data centers and the electricity generation needed to further develop the rapidly evolving AI technology.
Trump announced that it was “a true demonstration of confidence in the ability of America” under his new administration, with an initial private investment of $100bn that could reach five times that amount.
But Musk, a close Trump adviser who helped launch his campaign and now heads the government's cost-cutting drive, later questioned the value of the investment hours.
“They don't really have the money,” Musk wrote on his social media platform X. “SoftBank has received much less than $10B. I have that on good authority.”
Altman responded Wednesday by saying that Musk was “wrong, as you certainly know” and inviting Musk to come visit the first site in Texas that is already under construction.
“(T)he is good for the country. I understand that what is good for the country is not always what is best for your companies, but in your new role I hope you put (America) first,” wrote Altman, using a US flag emoji to represent America.
Behind the anger
The public conflict over Stargate is part of a years-long dispute between Musk and Altman that began with a boardroom dispute over who should run OpenAI, which the two men helped found.
Musk, an early OpenAI investor and board member, sued the artificial intelligence company last year, alleging that it had betrayed its founding goals as a non-profit research lab. which benefited the public rather than pursuing profits.
Musk has since escalated the controversy, adding new claims and seeking a court order that would halt OpenAI's plans to turn itself into a for-profit business. A hearing is scheduled for early February in federal court in California.
The world's richest man, whose companies include Tesla, SpaceX and X, last year started his own rival AI company, xAI, which is building his massive data center himself in Memphis, Tennessee. Musk says there is unfair competition from OpenAI and its close business partner Microsoft, which has provided the massive computing resources needed to build AI systems, such as ChatGPT.
When did Stargate start?
Tech news outlet The Information first reported on an OpenAI data center project called Stargate in March 2024, indicating that it had been in the works long before Trump announced it.
Another company – Crusoe Energy Systems – announced in July that it was building a large and “custom-designed” AI data center outside Abilene, Texas, at a site operated by energy technology company Lancium . Crusoe and Lancium said in a joint statement at the time that the project was “backed by a multi-million dollar investment” but did not reveal the backers.
AI technology requires large amounts of electricity to build and operate, and both companies said the project would be powered by renewable sources such as nearby solar farms, in a way that, according to Lancium CEO Michael McNamara, “delivering the highest level of green energy at the lowest possible cost”. Crusoe said he would own it and they would develop the facility.
It is unclear how and when that project became the first phase of the Stargate investment announced by Trump. Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison said Tuesday that the Abilene project is the first of about 10 data center buildings currently under construction, and that number could expand to 20.
Where is Microsoft?
Missing from Trump's press conference on Tuesday was Microsoft, which has long supported OpenAI with billions of dollars in investments and allowing its data centers to be used to run the models behind ChatGPT and AI tools. raise another generation.
Microsoft said this week that it is also investing in the Stargate project but issued a statement noting that its OpenAI partnership will “evolve” in a way that allows OpenAI “to build additional capacity, especially for research and model training”.
Asked about Musk's thoughts on the Stargate deal on Wednesday in an interview with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella backed his company's own $80bn plan to fund to build their global AI structure, with a cost of $50bn. in the US.
“Look, all I know is that I'm good for my $80bn,” Nadella said, laughing.
