On Wednesday, Elon Musk raised doubts about the $500 billion artificial intelligence project announced by U.S. President Donald Trump, questioning the availability of the promised funding.
Musk’s comments marked a rare disagreement between him and Trump, as Musk had been a significant supporter of the administration, even contributing $270 million to its election campaign.
Trump had unveiled the AI infrastructure project, known as Stargate, on Tuesday, claiming that it would invest at least $500 billion into AI development in the United States, with major backing from SoftBank and OpenAI, the creators of ChatGPT.
However, Musk, via his social media platform X, cast doubt on the project’s financial backing. He stated that the key investors, including SoftBank, “don’t actually have the money.” Musk went on to add, “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
Musk’s comments could have been aimed at OpenAI, the AI startup he helped found before stepping down in 2018. Tensions between Musk and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, who was present at the White House during the announcement, have been escalating, with Musk involved in legal disputes against the company behind ChatGPT.
While OpenAI is valued as one of the highest startups globally, it faces financial struggles due to the high cost of developing its advanced technology.
Reports from the Wall Street Journal revealed that Oracle, also involved in the Stargate project, holds around $11 billion in cash and securities, while SoftBank has roughly $30 billion in cash reserves. The Stargate initiative has committed to an initial investment of $100 billion, with the possibility of reaching up to $500 billion over the next four years.
