What Is the Stargate Project?

By Scott Levine – Updated May 27, 2025 at 4:35 PM | Fact-checked by Frank Bass

Key Points

Stargate Project, led by OpenAI and SoftBank, plans to develop AI infrastructure with a $500 billion investment by 2029.
Oracle, MGX, and other tech giants are funding Stargate to enhance U.S. leadership in AI and support global AI projects.
Stargate's global initiative includes assisting 10 countries with AI infrastructure, aiming to expand AI accessibility.
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Motivated to ensure that the United States remains a global leader in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), OpenAI and SoftBank have created a new company, the Stargate Project, which will develop infrastructure to support AI growth.

Person in a suit holding a tablet with the image of a brain filled with circuitry projected above it. — Image source: Getty Images.

Overview of the project

Announced in January 2025, Stargate seeks to invest $500 billion through 2029 in the development of data centers and other infrastructure in the United States that will support OpenAI. In addition to OpenAI and SoftBank, software and cloud computing specialist Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL) and MGX, a technology fund located in the United Arab Emirates, will provide the initial round of equity funding.

In response to other nations' inquiries about developing similar programs, OpenAI announced OpenAI for Countries in May 2025. From helping governments build data center capacity to providing a customized ChatGPT to citizens, OpenAI for Countries will collaborate with the U.S. government to support AI growth abroad. For the first phase of this initiative, OpenAI aims to help 10 countries or regions with their projects.

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Stargate in action

Planning on deploying $500 billion to develop data centers, OpenAI certainly has lofty ambitions with Stargate. Smart -- and experienced -- investors know full well, however, that a company's articulation of lofty goals doesn't guarantee that they will come to fruition. While OpenAI announced Stargate in early 2025, it ran into a snag just a few months later when SoftBank, which planned on investing $100 billion in the project, encountered some difficulties courting investors due to questions about tariffs and other concerns.

Time will tell if OpenAI succeeds in growing its data center infrastructure, but one thing that seems fairly certain is that data center growth among the AI industry writ large is poised to grow considerably -- a boon for companies like Nvidia that provide the hardware necessary for the development of data centers.

About the Author

Scott Levine is a contributing Motley Fool stock market analyst covering energy, industrials, technology, and materials. He is also a high school English teacher and a small business owner. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing from Binghamton University, a master’s degree in secondary education from Adelphi University, and an advanced certificate in school building leadership from CUNY Queens College. A crossword puzzle enthusiast, he has solved more than 3,100 New York Times puzzles with a 97% solve rate.

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