Shortly after New US president Trump announced a new huge AI infrastructure investment from the White House, “First Buddy” Musk attempted to tear it down. “They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote on X (Musk’s social media platform formerly known as twitter). “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”

Trump had said the investment will form a new company, named Stargate, to grow AI infrastructure in the US. The leaders of OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle stood alongside Trump at the time of the announcement. Their companies will invest $100 billion in total to kickstart the project, with plans to pour up to $500 billion in the coming years.

The comments are unignorable takedown of a major White House project from someone from Trump’s innermost circle. As a clear indication of how involved Musk is in the first days of the Trump administration, Musk said he was present in the Oval Office on Tuesday (21^st January 2025) as Trump signed a pardon for Ross William Ulbricht (founder of the dark web marketplace SilkRoad).

The AI infrastructure investment talked about here is an OpenAI initiative and it should not be a surprise for anybody that Musk is going after it. Musk is engaged in an ongoing lawsuit with OpenAI and its CEO (Sam Altman), who had come to the White House for the announcement. Musk, who has stated he “doesn’t trust” OpenAI CEO Altman, claims in the suit that the ChatGPT has abandoned its original nonprofit mission by reserving some of its most advanced AI technology for private customers.

The companies involved in Stargate have not made any public disclosure regarding how they will contribute the funds, but they don’t essentially need the money in the bank to back it — they could borrow money or sign on other equity investors.

White House press secretary (Karoline Leavitt) on Wednesday (22^nd January 2025) rebuffed Musk’s comments, saying in a Fox News interview, “the American people should take President Trump and those CEOs’ words for it.” “President Trump is very excited about this infrastructure announcement in the field of AI, which is obviously growing, and something the United States of America needs to capitalize on, because our adversaries, such as China, are very advanced in this field,” said Leavitt. “So, the American people should take President Trump and those CEOs’ words for it -– these investments are coming to our great country, and American jobs are coming along with them.”

Sam Altman replied directly to Elon Musk’s claim on X, writing “wrong, as you surely know. want to come visit the first site already under way? this is great for the country. 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.”