Leaders in the IT industry were fiercely competitive on Wednesday, attacking their rivals for the massive AI investment commitments made by Donald Trump the previous day.
On Tuesday, Trump revealed Stargate, a $500 billion initiative that OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank would jointly fund. The CEOs of three businesses, Sam Altman, Larry Ellison, and Masayoshi Son, respectively, surrounded the president during the announcement. Son will serve as the project’s chair. Each of the three is a multibillionaire. A representative from another major investment, MGX, Abu Dhabi’s state AI fund, was not present during the picture opportunity.
The collaboration aims to construct the computer infrastructure and data centers necessary for the advancement of artificial intelligence. Despite the large headline investment, some estimates have previously suggested that the expense of creating AI would be that high.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a Trump loyalist who apparently has an office in the White House, was another prominent absentee. Musk is the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI. He called Stargate a financial farce the night following the announcement.
When OpenAI wrote on X – Musk’s social network – that it would “begin deploying $100bn immediately”, Musk responded: “They don’t actually have the money” and followed up with another jab: “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”
With an estimated net worth of $430 billion, Musk tweets often every day about a wide range of issues, most often promoting Trump and his own businesses. His tweets calling Stargate little more than hot air, despite his tendency to post, mark a significant rift with the White House, where he is one of Trump’s closest and most senior advisors.
Musk’s broadside has not yet received a response from Trump. The president was concentrating on wishing his wife, Melania, a happy anniversary on Truth Social, his personal social network.
Musk went further. He retweeted an image of a crack pipe with the accompanying tweet: “Leaked image of the research tool OpenAI used to come up with their $500 billion number for Stargate.” He spent much of Wednesday afternoon sniping at Stargate.
Altman tried to strike a conciliatory tone with his first response: “I genuinely respect your accomplishments and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time.”
Then at least one glove came off when Altman wrote snidely about Musk’s Softbank remark: “Wrong, as you surely know. want to come visit the first site already under way? this is great for the country. I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put us first”.
In an appearance on CNBC, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella—a less combative public character than Altman and most definitely not Musk—was questioned about the altercation. “All I know is that I’m good for my $80bn,” he joked. In reference to Microsoft’s cloud computing offering, “I’m going to spend $80 billion building out Azure.”
Although his firm donated $1 million to the inaugural committee, Nadella did not sit on a dais next to Trump for the president’s inauguration on Monday, unlike Musk and Altman. Because of his employer’s stock awards and its recent outstanding performance, Nadella’s net worth is believed to be above $1 billion.
Musk and Altman have a long-standing quarrel that contributes to the hostility. In 2015, Musk and Altman co-founded OpenAI, although they later parted ways. Musk filed a lawsuit against the firm in March 2024 over its intention to switch to a for-profit business model. He later withdrew the lawsuit in July and filed another one in August, this time accusing the corporation of “deceit of Shakespearean proportions.”
Ellison and Son, the other two corporate executives involved in Stargate, have not yet responded.
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