SoftBank and OpenAI’s plan to “immediately” invest $100 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure in the US as part of the much-hyped Stargate project has faced months of delays due to fears that President Trump’s tariffs could send costs soaring, according to a report.
Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Japan-based Softbank, and OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman had promised during a White House briefing a day after Trump‘s inauguration to deploy $100 billion and raise that figure to $500 billion over the next four years.
The two companies reportedly held early-stage talks with dozens of lenders and alternative asset managers, including Mizuho, JPMorgan, Apollo Global Management and Brookfield Asset Management.
But there have not been any deals completed as steep tariffs and warnings of a recession have investors shying away from costly data center projects, sources familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
SoftBank and OpenAI did not immediately respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The import taxes could hike costs to build data centers by 5% to 15%, according to TD Cowen analysis led by Michael Elias.
Trump has touted Stargate as an example of an influx of US investments under his leadership. The project intends to build up to 20 massive data centers across the country.
SoftBank, which is in charge of Stargate’s financing, has built a team of 20 to 30 people to expedite the project, sources told Bloomberg. It is also backed by Oracle and MGX.
However, China’s DeepSeek AI model – which it claims took relatively little time and funding to get off the ground – has left Wall Street questioning whether multi-million dollar data center ventures are worth it.
There has been some progress made on Stargate from plans made before SoftBank’s involvement.
Last week, Altman told a congressional hearing about his visit to the venture’s first data center site in Abilene, Texas.
It’s being developed by Oracle and will become “the largest AI training facility in the world,” Altman said.
Altman and OpenAI are facing separate challenges, fending off legal threats from Elon Musk over the company’s controversial plan to become a for-profit company.
Musk, who co-founded OpenAI but later cut ties with the firm, has attempted to block OpenAI’s restructuring bid.
He even made an unsolicited $97.4 billion offer to take over the firm, which Altman quickly dismissed.
Last week, OpenAI announced it was ditching its plans to turn the nonprofit into a for-profit entity.
