Stargate AI infrastructure plan could help drive industry forward, says Northeastern AI expert
A new $100 billion joint venture between the federal government and some of the biggest companies working in artificial intelligence is encouraging, a Northeastern University expert says.
“I was happy to see this. Absolutely,” says Usama Fayyad, executive director of Northeastern University’s Institute for Experiential AI, about the launch of the Stargate Project. “This is a big investment. It will definitely create jobs. It will increase compute capacity.”
In his first full day in office, President Donald Trump was joined by technology executives on Tuesday to announce the venture that will be used to build more AI data centers in the U.S.
Stargate’s initial investors include SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX and is already in the process of building 10 data centers in Texas. Over the next four years, the companies say they plan to invest upwards of $500 billion in the project.
Fayyad says the best part of the project is that — at least for now –- it is being funded using private sector money.
“For now, it’s not really taxpayer dollars,” he says. “It’s really the private sector.”
That being said, it remains to be seen how successful Stargate will be in securing funding over the next few years, Fayyad notes.
“They clearly are planning to raise money,” he says. “How are they going to raise money? Who’s going to put it up? Beyond SoftBank, it’s not clear anybody has the money to spend tomorrow on this.”
It will be interesting to see who else invests in the project, and how much the government will be directly involved, he adds.
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