SoftBank-OpenAI's $500-bn AI project struggles to take off

A $500 billion effort unveiled at the White House to supercharge the U.S.'s artificial intelligence ambitions has struggled to get off the ground and has sharply scaled back its near-term plans.

- Eliot Brown & Berber Jin

Six months after Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son stood shoulder to shoulder with Sam Altman and President Trump to announce the Stargate project, the newly formed company charged with making it happen has yet to complete a single deal for a data center.

Son's SoftBank and Altman's OpenAI, which jointly lead Stargate, have been at odds over crucial terms of the partnership, including where to build the sites, according to people familiar with the matter.

While the companies pledged at the January announcement to invest $100 billion "immediately," the project is now setting the more modest goal of building a small data center by the end of this year, likely in Ohio, the people said.

Stargate's lethargic launch is a setback to the vast ambitions of Son, who, despite spending billions of dollars over the years, has been playing catch-up in the fast-evolving AI sector.

SoftBank committed $30 billion to OpenAI earlier this year. It is by far the largest ever startup investment—an enormous wager that has led SoftBank to take on new debt and sell assets. The investment was made alongside the plans for Stargate, giving SoftBank a role in the physical infrastructure needed for AI.

Altman, eager to secure the computing power to support the next generations of his company's signature product, ChatGPT, has plowed ahead without SoftBank, signing deals for data centers with other operators.

The leaders of both companies say all is well in their joint effort. Last week they appeared on video at a SoftBank event, and Altman said they have an initial goal of building 10 gigawatts of data centers together. It is a "wonderful partnership," he said.

In a joint statement, the two companies said they were advancing projects in multiple states and were "moving at hyperscale and speed to deliver the AI infrastructure that will power the future and serve humanity."