Home Elon Musk and Sam Altman Battle on X over Trumps Data Center Project Stargate News Elon Musk and Sam Altman Battle on X over Trumps Data Center Project Stargate4 min read Published: January 24, 2025 Key TakeawaysElon Musk questioned the financial capacity of Stargate backers, including SoftBank, sparking a public spat with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.The $500 billion AI infrastructure project Stargate is aimed at advancing physical and virtual AI capabilities, with $100 billion already invested.Musks xAI competes with OpenAI and Stargate, with ongoing legal disputes over OpenAIs shift from its non-profit roots.Just hours after Trump announced Stargate in tandem with the top members of OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, Elon Musk took to Twitter to question the legitimacy of the value of the investment that the investors had pledged.Stargate is a $500 billion AI infrastructure project thats expected to take the physical and virtual AI infrastructure to the next level. Companies have already invested $100 billion to get the project started.Musk Claims the Backers Dont Have the Money RequiredSoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority, said Elon Musk on X shortly after the largest-ever investment in AI was announced. This led to a thread of sarcastic Xeets (we cant call them tweets anymore, can we?) between Elon Musk and the CEO of Open AI, Sam Altman.In response to Musks comments, the CEO of OpenAI, who was present at the White House alongside Donald Trump on the day of the Stargate launch, said, Wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already underway?The said site is a data center under construction in Abilene, Texas. [Stargate] is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isnt always whats optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope youll mostly put [America] first, Altman wrote, after dismissing Musks tweet.Altman later added a sweet note saying that he genuinely admires Musks accomplishments and is of the opinion that hes the most inspiring entrepreneur. I dont think [Musk is] a nice person or treating us fairly, but you have to respect the guy, and he pushes all of us to be more ambitious. Sam AltmanTrump stepped in and shrugged off the comments of his prominent ally, Elon by saying the criticism was not an indictment of the deals viability but a clear case of bad blood with one of the members of this deal ( which evidently, is Altman).He further clarified to the reporters, I dont know if they do [have the funds], but you know, theyre putting up the money the governments not putting up anything, theyre putting up money. Theyre very rich people, so I hope they do.The Actual Context Behind This FiascoThis controversy starts to make a little more sense when we take into account that Musks company, xAI, is not just a competitor of Stargate but also in a lawsuit with OpenAI alleging that the latter had betrayed its founding aim as a non-profit research lab.Elons xAI is currently building its own big data center in Memphis, Tennessee, and he continues to escalate the dispute by adding claims and asking for a court order to prevent OpenAI from converting into a for-profit business.In the past, Musk has openly said that he feels his company faces unfair competition from OpenAI, seeing as the latter has access to a larger pool of computing resources. Consequently, xAI is also looking for infrastructure to develop its AI systems.The Ground RealityAs for the actual truth, a source familiar with Stargate said that the assertion isnt true, as Softbank has $24.3 billion of cash on its balance sheets per its latest earnings and is comfortable taking debt to fund the project.Additionally, Oracle has $11 billion in cash on its balance sheet, MGX has $100 billion in capital commitments, and OpenAI recently announced it has more than $10 billion from its recent round of venture capital funding.Add Techreport to Your Google News Feed Get the latest updates, trends, and insights delivered straight to your fingertips. Subscribe now! Subscribe now Vlad is Tech Report's Executive Editor. With over a decade of experience in tech content, he's passionate about computer hardware, an advocate of online privacy, and strongly believes in the open-source, scarce-money nature of cryptocurrency.When hes not working, hes traveling with his partner and their cat, learning Python, or reading good books. He never owned a PC he did not build. View all articles by Vlad Melnic Our editorial processThe Tech Reporteditorial policyis centered on providing helpful, accurate content that offers real value to our readers. We only work with experienced writers who have specific knowledge in the topics they cover, including latest developments in technology, online privacy, cryptocurrencies, software, and more. Our editorial policy ensures that each topic is researched and curated by our in-house editors. 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