Six months after announcing the $500 billion Stargate initiative at the White House alongside President Trump, SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son and OpenAI’s Sam Altman are confronting stalled momentum and scaled-back ambitions.

Despite pledging $100 billion in immediate investment, Stargate has not finalized a single data center deal. Instead, the venture is now targeting a modest first milestone: opening a small facility in Ohio by the end of 2025.

Sources familiar with the venture say the delays stem from disagreements between SoftBank and OpenAI over strategic decisions—including where to locate major sites. Although Stargate was billed as a cornerstone of U.S. AI infrastructure, the two leading companies have struggled to coordinate operational and financial control.

While Stargate has slowed, OpenAI has continued securing infrastructure independently. Altman recently inked a massive deal with Oracle worth more than $30 billion annually, set to begin within three years. The Oracle deal includes 4.5 gigawatts of data center capacity—equivalent to the power usage of over four million U.S. homes.

In addition to its Oracle deal, OpenAI secured a multi-billion-dollar partnership with CoreWeave—boosting its compute capacity even further. In March 2025, the companies finalized an $11.9 billion, five-year contract for dedicated infrastructure, including a $350 million equity investment by OpenAI. That agreement was expanded in May, with OpenAI committing up to $4 billion more through April 2029. Taken together, these deals bring OpenAI close to the 5-gigawatt infrastructure target originally promised by Stargate, underscoring its ability to scale independently of the stalled joint venture.

Despite working independently, OpenAI and SoftBank maintain public optimism about their collaboration. At a recent SoftBank event, Altman appeared via video, calling the partnership “wonderful” and citing a shared goal of building 10 gigawatts of AI infrastructure.

A joint statement from both companies emphasized that they are “moving at hyperscale and speed to deliver the AI infrastructure that will power the future and serve humanity.”

One unresolved issue involves SB Energy, a SoftBank-backed energy developer. According to people familiar with the matter, the two companies have differed over how extensively to build on sites tied to SB Energy—adding to the complexity of launching Stargate.

The Stargate project was formally introduced in January with SoftBank and OpenAI each pledging $18 billion to jumpstart operations. The companies also named Oracle and UAE-based MGX as early partners, but their financial involvement was not clarified at launch.

In June, Oracle CEO Safra Catz stated plainly, “Stargate is not formed yet,” during an investor call—highlighting the project’s incomplete legal and financial foundations.

Meanwhile, Altman has continued using the "Stargate" brand name for OpenAI-led data center projects in Texas, even when SoftBank is not involved. Public records show that SoftBank holds the trademark.

Stargate’s first facility, if completed, will use a new low-cost design and is expected to open in Ohio, according to sources close to the project. However, building data centers at this scale remains complex. Companies must secure land, power, chips, and financing—all while navigating regulatory and logistical barriers.

While the Stargate venture faces hurdles, SoftBank is not retreating from its AI investment strategy. Earlier this year, it committed $30 billion to OpenAI—the largest startup investment on record. The move reflects Masayoshi Son’s deepening interest in securing influence within the fast-growing generative AI sector.

According to people familiar with the matter, Son has privately told associates he remains bullish on OpenAI and hopes to deepen the partnership.

Over the past decade, Son raised more than $140 billion through SoftBank’s Vision Funds—venture vehicles created to back future-defining tech, including AI. Despite their scale, SoftBank missed early opportunities to invest in OpenAI before ChatGPT’s launch and other foundational players.

That track record has been marred by high-profile stumbles, including WeWork and construction startup Katerra. But SoftBank has seen success with Arm, the chip design company it acquired in 2016, which has surged in value since the launch of generative AI tools.

Altman, meanwhile, has ambitions on an unprecedented scale. He has said trillions of dollars will be needed to fund the next stages of AI development. He and Son began collaborating in earnest last fall, culminating in the Stargate announcement at the White House in January.

“This is the beginning of our golden age,” Son said at the time.

Q: What is the Stargate project?

A: Stargate is a $500 billion AI infrastructure initiative jointly launched by SoftBank and OpenAI to build large-scale data centers.

Q: Why has Stargate been delayed?

A: Internal disagreements between SoftBank and OpenAI, particularly over site selection and control, have slowed progress.

Q: What is the current goal for Stargate in 2025?

A: The scaled-down plan is to open a single, smaller data center in Ohio by the end of the year.

Q: Is OpenAI still working with SoftBank?

A: Yes, both companies say they are still partnered, but OpenAI is also independently pursuing massive data center deals with Oracle and others.

Q: How much has SoftBank invested in OpenAI?

A: SoftBank has committed $30 billion to OpenAI, the largest startup investment in history.

The faltering start of Stargate highlights the immense complexity—not just technical, but also strategic and political—of building the physical backbone for generative AI at scale. For all the fanfare of trillion-dollar visions, execution still hinges on slower-moving realities: zoning approvals, chip supply chains, and corporate alignment.

That OpenAI has nearly matched Stargate’s original 2024 goals on its own suggests the company is no longer dependent on shared infrastructure to scale. This shift underscores OpenAI’s growing power in the AI ecosystem—not just as a model developer, but as a builder of its own compute future.

For SoftBank, Stargate was meant to reestablish its leadership in emerging tech after years of missed opportunities. Its continued investment shows that Masayoshi Son still sees AI infrastructure as the next great frontier, even if SoftBank isn’t leading the charge operationally.

As capital floods into AI, the gap between vision and execution is becoming the sector’s defining challenge—and one that will test not just companies, but countries.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.