Business mogul and X CEO Elon Musk has questioned whether enough funding is available to carry out a $500 billion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project announced by President Donald Trump on tuesday

The new project, called Stargate, will see Softbank, OpenAI and Oracle join forces to build data centers in the US for the further development of AI, which holds the promise of increasing productivity by automating work.

Larry Ellison, president of Oracle, also suggested that the project could facilitate the treatment of diseases such as cancer, possibly by developing a personalized vaccine by binding the technology with digital health records.

Elon Musk has rightly questioned whether there is enough funding available to carry out a $500 billion artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure project announced by President Donald Trump on Tuesday. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman pushed (Aaron Schwartz/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images and Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty Images. / Getty Images)

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The initial investment is expected to be $100 billion and could reach five times that sum. Microsoft, NVIDIA, investor MGX and chipmakers Arm are also partners in the project.

“Project Stargate is a new company that intends to invest $500 billion over the next four years building a new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States. We will begin deploying $100 billion immediately,” says a OpenAI announcement posted on X on Tuesday.

But Muskwho has had a fractured relationship with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, suggested to X that the AI ​​company doesn’t have the cash to back up its announcement.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk tweeted at X in response to OpenAI’s post.

Musk followed up his post by writing, “SoftBank has well under $10 million secured. I have it on good authority.”

But Altman applauded Musk’s claims.

Trump speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC, announcing Stargate. (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)

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“Wrong, as I’m sure you know. Do you want to come visit the first place that’s already up and running?” Altman wrote.

“This is great for the country. I understand that what’s good for the country isn’t always what’s best for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll, above all else, put America first.”

Altman also seemed to play down the situation, praising Musk for being one of the “most inspiring entrepreneurs of our time.”

In March, Tesla CEO Musk announced that it was suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and Altman, among others, saying they had abandoned the company’s original founding mission to develop open-source artificial general intelligence technology for the benefit of humanity above profit.

Meanwhile, a source familiar with Stargate told Fox Business that Stargate is ready to deploy the $100 billion immediately.

The source said the company’s companies are well-positioned to make the investments with capital coming from well-capitalized founding partners, additional capital from co-investors, as well as third-party debt and other sources.

OpenAI, the logo in the image, SoftBank and Oracle join forces to build data centers in the US for the development of AI. (Photo by Dilara Irem Sancar/Anadolu via Getty Images/Getty Images)

For example, SoftBank had $24.3 billion in cash on its balance sheet as of Sept. 30, 2024, according to the latest earnings. According to earnings, SoftBank’s loan-to-value stood at 12.5%.

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MGX is understood to have $100 billion in capital commitments, Oracle has $11 billion in cash on its balance sheet, while OpenAI recently announced a capital increase of more than $10 billion, according to the source.

CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella said on Wednesday that Microsoft was committing $80 billion to the project when asked on CNBC about Musk’s comments.

“All I know is that I’m good for my $80 billion,” Nadella said. “Customers can count on Microsoft with OpenAI models everywhere in the world, serving OpenAI models and other models.”

Fox Business understands that the companies involved in Stargate have not decided how they will break commitments on the $500 billion figure. Some may dedicate more than others to the project.