Elon Musk’s ‘they don’t have money’ for Sam Altman’s OpenAI may be coming true, and it may be affecting two of its biggest partners, Oracle and Softbank

On January 22, 2025, Sam Altman, Masayoshi Son, and Larry Ellison stood in the White House alongside President Donald Trump to announce Stargate—a $500 billion AI data centre venture that promised 10 gigawatts of computing capacity and $100 billion in near-immediate spending. It was billed as the largest AI infrastructure project in history, one that would keep America ahead of China in the AI race. Within hours, Elon Musk had a different take. “They don’t actually have the money,” he posted on X, adding that SoftBank had “well under $10B secured.”

Altman shot back, inviting Musk to visit the first site already under way and adding a pointed jab: “I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role I hope you’ll mostly put [America] first.”