Setbacks Hit OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank Stargate Project

The $500 billion Stargate initiative, led by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle, has encountered setbacks due to internal disagreements and delays, causing a shift from nationwide expansion to a smaller data center in Ohio. Initial promises of a $100 billion immediate investment and hundreds of thousands of jobs have been scaled back, with current projections estimating over 100,000 jobs, mostly in construction. No major data center deals have been finalized, largely because of disputes between OpenAI and SoftBank. Despite these challenges, OpenAI has independently secured a $30 billion annual cloud deal with Oracle and confirmed an additional 4.5 gigawatts of U.S. data center capacity, raising the total under development to over 5 gigawatts. The partnership still aims to surpass original infrastructure commitments, though analysts including Elon Musk remain skeptical about the project's ability to secure full funding. OpenAI continues to pursue large-scale AI infrastructure projects in the U.S. and internationally.