LR: Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Salesforce Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Reuters
Some of tech’s biggest names clash as president’s term ends Donald Trump Unveiled his $500 billion private artificial intelligence investment project.
Earlier this week, Trump announced joint venture and Open artificial intelligence, Oracle and Softbank Invest billions of dollars to improve domestic computing capabilities to promote the development of artificial intelligence in the United States.
The project is called “Stargate”, in White House Author: Trump, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison. Masayoshi Son will serve as chairman of Stargate, and the semiconductor company arm, Microsoft, NVIDIAOracle and OpenAI will serve as key initial technology partners.
Executives pledged to invest $100 billion initially and up to $500 billion over the next four years.
The first hit was by Musk — A close Trump ally who is himself a key figure in artificial intelligence and owns his startup xAI — who claim Posting on his X social media platform, he said the companies involved in the project had “virtually no money” to finance the investment.
“SoftBank has secured far less than $10B in guarantees. I have full authority,” Musk added in a subsequent post.
Musk serves as chairman of the Department of Government Effectiveness (DOGE), a major White House government efficiency effort. He is Trump’s biggest financial backer so far in the 2024 election.
Microsoft and OpenAI may have a rift
On Wednesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff said the investment plan could cause tensions between OpenAI and Microsoft, two close partners.
OpenAI said on Tuesday it had Terminate agreement with Microsoft as its exclusive cloud provider. The change in relationship was revealed as part of the Stargate Project announcement.
“I think it’s important for OpenAI to get into other platforms quickly because Microsoft is building its own artificial intelligence,” Benioff told CNBC. “I don’t think Microsoft will use OpenAI in the future, they will have their own cutting-edge models.”
“They’ve made it clear that it’s too expensive and too difficult for them and they want to have their own,” the Salesforce chief added. “That’s why they hired Mustafa Suleyman[as CEO of Microsoft AI]— —And Mustafa Suleyman and Sam Altman are not best friends.”
Microsoft named Suleiman as co-founder last year Google’s AI laboratory DeepMind, Lead the new artificial intelligence department.
Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest single investor, having invested billions of dollars in the company. It also offers OpenAI mode on its Azure cloud platform as part of a commercial arrangement between the two companies.
“I’m happy with my $80 billion”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella On Wednesday, it addressed concerns surrounding the tech giant’s relationship with OpenAI, saying the two continued to have an “important partnership.”
“Sam (Altman) wants to continue to use scaling to build more computing power so he can train more models,” Nadella told CNBC. “We have right of first refusal. He comes to us first. If we meet those needs , then we clear it, and if not, he can go to another provider.”
Asked about Musk’s claim that OpenAI and other companies involved in Stargate don’t have the funds to make up the total $100 billion originally committed, Nadella said: “Look, all I know is that I’m very concerned about my $80 billion. satisfy.
Microsoft announced in early 2025 that it plans to spend US$80 billion to build data centers this year to promote its artificial intelligence business.
“I’m going to spend $80 billion building Azure,” Nadella told CNBC. “Customers can trust Microsoft.”
—CNBC’s Eamon Javers and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report
