WASHINGTON - President Trump announced on Tuesday a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to build artificial intelligence infrastructure, aiming to outpace rival nations in the business-critical technology.

Trump said the joint venture, called Stargate, will build data centers and create more than 100,000 jobs in the United States. ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle, along with other equity backers of Stargate, have committed $100 billion for immediate deployment, with the remaining investment expected over the next four years.

And CEOs Masayoshi Son of SoftBank and Sam Altman of OpenAI CEO along with Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison joined Trump at the White House for the launch.

“Immediately, Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI,” said Trump. “And this will include the construction of colossal data centers.”

Ellison said the first of the project's data centers are currently under construction in Texas. Twenty will be built, half a million square feet each, he said.

The “most charismatic” application of AI, said Ellison, would pertain to electronic health records, which would let doctors monitor best practices in far flung places. For instance, a doctor in Indian River reservation would be able to see how a doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering would a treat a patient, he said.

It was not immediately clear whether the announcement was an update to a previously reported venture.

In March 2024, tech news website The Information reported OpenAI and Microsoft were working on plans for a $100 billion data center project that would include an artificial intelligence supercomputer also called "Stargate" set to launch in 2028.

Trump was all in on the innovation AI would herald.

“AI seems to be very hot. It seems to be the thing that a lot of smart people are looking at very strongly. And our country will be prospering like never before,” said Trump. “It is going to be the golden age of America.”

Why data centers? AI data centers take lots of power

AI requires enormous computing power, pushing demand for specialized data centers that let tech companies to link thousands of chips together in clusters.

"They have to produce a lot of electricity, and we'll make it possible for them to get that production done very easily at their own plants if they want," Trump said.

As U.S. power consumption rises from AI data centers and the electrification of buildings and transportation, about half of the country is at increased risk of power supply shortfalls in the next decade, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation said in December.

A clue to new TikTok ownership?

During the briefing, Trump also floated the idea of his billionaire friend Elon Musk buying the social media app TikTok. On his first day in office, Trump issued an executive order halting the enforcement of a ban of the app for 75 days.

He then turned to Ellison, saying: “I'd like Larry to buy it, too. I have the right to make a deal.”

Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal. Reuters contributed to this report.