OpenAI and Softbank have announced the Stargate Project, a new company which intends to invest US$500 B over the next four years to build new AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the US. The move is expected to generate "massive economic benefit for the entire world", the two companies said.
Initial equity funders in Stargate include SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle, and MGX. SoftBank and OpenAI are the lead partners for Stargate, with SoftBank taking on financial responsibility and OpenAI assuming the operational responsibility. Masayoshi Son, Representative Director, Corporate Officer, Chairman & CEO of SoftBank, will be the chairman.
Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Oracle, and OpenAI are the key initial technology partners. The buildout is already underway. As part of Stargate, Oracle, NVIDIA, and OpenAI will closely collaborate to build and operate this computing system. This builds on a collaboration between OpenAI and NVIDIA going back to 2016, as well as a newer partnership between OpenAI and Oracle.
The project also builds on an existing OpenAI partnership with Microsoft. OpenAI will continue to increase its consumption of Microsoft's Azure with this additional compute to train models as well as deliver products and services, OpenAI and Softbank said.
"All of us look forward to continuing to build and develop AI—and in particular AGI*—for the benefit of all of humanity. We believe that this new step is critical on the path, and will enable creative people to figure out how to use AI to elevate humanity," the two companies added.
Data centre infrastructure players are also expected to benefit from Stargate.
Microsoft said in a blog post that the Stargate project is complementary to its existing partnership with OpenAI, which began in 2019.
"The key elements of our partnership remain in place for the duration of our contract through 2030, with our access to OpenAI’s IP**, our revenue sharing arrangements and our exclusivity on OpenAI’s APIs*** all continuing forward – specifically:
- Microsoft has rights to OpenAI IP (inclusive of model and infrastructure) for use within its products, like Copilot. "This means our customers have access to the best model for their needs.
- The OpenAI API is exclusive to Azure, runs on Azure and is also available through the Azure OpenAI Service. This agreement means customers benefit from having access to leading models on Microsoft platforms and direct from OpenAI," Microsoft said.
- Microsoft and OpenAI have revenue sharing agreements that flow both ways, ensuring that both companies benefit from increased use of new and existing models.
- Microsoft remains a major investor in OpenAI, providing funding and capacity to support their advancements and, in turn, benefiting from their growth in valuation.
The company also disclosed that OpenAI recently made a new, large Azure commitment that will continue to support all OpenAI products as well as training.
"This new agreement also includes changes to the exclusivity on new capacity, moving to a model where Microsoft has a right of first refusal (ROFR). To further support OpenAI, Microsoft has approved OpenAI’s ability to build additional capacity, primarily for research and training of models," Microsoft shared in the blog post.
In other news, Google reportedly announced a US$1 B investment in AI company Anthropic.
*AGI stands for artificial general intelligence, basically sentience.
**IP refers to intellectual property.
***API is an acronym for application programming interface.
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