Key Points
- The $500 billion Stargate project, launched earlier this year to boost U.S. AI development, is facing major delays and cutbacks.
- OpenAI and SoftBank are having disagreements, and Oracle’s role is limited, making it hard to meet the goals without help from Microsoft, AWS, or Google.
- Experts say the project may not deliver on its big promises, and real AI growth may come from other tech giants instead.
Six months after a high-profile launch at the White House, the $500 billion Stargate project is running into major roadblocks. The goal of this project — pushed by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle — was to bring the U.S. up to speed in the global race for AI development by building massive new data centers. Back in January, it sounded like a big win for the country’s future in technology, but now, the plan is losing steam.
According to recent reports, the group behind the project has not made a single deal to build a new data center yet. One of the reasons is a growing conflict between SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. They can’t agree on important parts of the project, especially where to build the facilities. Oracle, while still part of the partnership, doesn’t seem to be stepping up in a major way, even though it recently agreed with OpenAI to add 4.5 gigawatts of data center space — which was already in progress before Stargate was even announced.
What made the project exciting at first was the claim that $100 billion would be invested right away. But now, the goal has been scaled down to just building a small data center by the end of this year — possibly in Ohio.
Industry experts are not shocked by these problems. The truth is, none of the three main partners have real experience building large data centers. While many companies lease space in existing tech buildings, very few build their own. In fact, Oracle only controls a small portion of its cloud network, and it has just 3% of the total cloud market. That gives them little power compared to real leaders like Microsoft Azure, AWS, and Google Cloud.
So far, the biggest players in tech — companies with the know-how and money — haven’t signed up to help. Without their support, analysts say the project is unlikely to go far. “Big projects like this often start with big promises,” said Bob O’Donnell from TECHnalysis Research. “But AI infrastructure is tricky, and it’s not just about the money.”
Patrick Moorhead from Moor Insights & Strategy added, “The numbers were always way too high. They said hundreds of billions, but only raised a few billion. That’s a red flag.”
Even though plans are still moving forward in some form, Stargate may not turn out to be the game-changer its founders promised. The future of AI development in the U.S. could depend more on companies like Microsoft and others who already have the skills and tools in place.
Read the rest: Source Link
Don’t forget to check our list of Cheap Windows VPS Hosting providers, How to get Windows Server 2022, Try Windows 11 Pro for Workstations & browse Windows Azure content.
Remember to like our facebook and follow us on twitter @WindowsMode.