Lightwave Logic Inc (LWLG)

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Thanks StocksPro! I am also posting an article on this topic from the WSJ, dated 7/21/25; also in many press media outlets.

SoftBank and OpenAI’s $500 Billion AI Project Struggles to Get Off Ground
The Stargate venture, introduced at White House event, is now setting the more modest goal of building a small data center by year-end
By Eliot Brown Updated July 21, 2025 6:49 pm ET

President Trump at a White House news conference with Larry Ellison, Masayoshi Son, and Sam Altman.
President Trump at the White House, accompanied from left by technology executives Larry Ellison, Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman earlier this year.

Key Points

The $500 billion Stargate project, intended to boost U.S. AI, faces setbacks six months after its White House unveiling.

SoftBank and OpenAI are in disagreement over key partnership terms, leading to a scaled-back plan for a data center in Ohio.

Despite Stargate’s slow progress, OpenAI is pursuing data-center deals independently, including a $30 billion annual deal with Oracle.

A $500 billion effort unveiled at the White House to supercharge the U.S.’s artificial-intelligence ambitions has struggled to get off the ground and has sharply scaled back its near-term plans.

Six months after Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son stood shoulder to shoulder with Sam Altman and President Trump to announce the Stargate project, the newly formed company charged with making it happen has yet to complete a single deal for a data center.

Son’s SoftBank 9434 -0.46%decrease; red down pointing triangle and Altman’s OpenAI, which jointly lead Stargate, have been at odds over crucial terms of the partnership, including where to build the sites, according to people familiar with the matter.

While the companies pledged at the January announcement to invest $100 billion “immediately,” the project is now setting the more modest goal of building a small data center by the end of this year, likely in Ohio, the people said.

Stargate’s lethargic launch is a setback to the vast ambitions of Son, who despite spending billions of dollars over the years, has been playing catch-up in the fast-evolving AI sector.

SoftBank committed $30 billion to OpenAI earlier this year. It is by far the largest-ever startup investment—an enormous wager that has led SoftBank to take on new debt and sell assets. The investment was made alongside the plans for Stargate, giving SoftBank a role in the physical infrastructure needed for AI.

Altman, eager to secure the computing power to support the next generations of his company’s signature product, ChatGPT, has plowed ahead without SoftBank, signing deals for data centers with other operators.

The leaders of both companies say all is well in their joint effort. Last week they appeared on video at a SoftBank event, and Altman said they have an initial goal of building 10 gigawatts of data centers together. It is a “wonderful partnership,” he said.

In a joint statement, the two companies said they were advancing projects in multiple states and were “moving at hyperscale and speed to deliver the AI infrastructure that will power the future and serve humanity.”

Aerial view of Project Stargate AI infrastructure site under construction.

A Stargate AI-infrastructure site under construction in Abilene, Texas. Photo: daniel cole/Reuters

Stargate’s rocky start hasn’t slowed the data-center development spree that Trump has said is a national priority. AI enthusiasts say the world will require a gargantuan effort to build the warehouselike structures filled with computer servers—and the electricity needed to supply them—on par with the construction of railroads in the 19th century.

Altman’s OpenAI recently struck a data-center deal with Oracle that calls for OpenAI to pay more than $30 billion a year to the software and cloud-computing company starting within three years, according to people familiar with the transaction.

That deal, which doesn’t involve SoftBank, totals 4.5 gigawatts of capacity, and would consume the equivalent power of more than two Hoover Dams, enough to power about four million homes. The data centers are spread among locations around the U.S., people familiar with the deal said.

Taken with a smaller deal OpenAI struck with CoreWeave, OpenAI has now completed data-center deals for nearly as much capacity as Stargate promised for this year in January. (OpenAI has said $100 billion roughly equates to 5 gigawatts of data centers.)

Despite Stargate’s slow start, Son has told associates he is bullish on OpenAI and would like to invest even more in the company, a person familiar with the matter said.

SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in Tokyo in February. The companies each pledged $18 billion to Stargate. Photo: yuichi yamazaki/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Son has long craved a prominent seat at the AI table. Over the past decade, he devoted the two largest startup funds ever raised—more than $140 billion—to finding the AI companies of the future, only to miss out on OpenAI and all of its competitors before the launch of ChatGPT, while being tarred by high-profile flops such as WeWork and construction startup Katerra.

He had better success with his 2016 acquisition of chip company Arm, which surged in value during the past two years.

In the fall, he zeroed in on OpenAI. Altman had ambitions on a scale without precedent: He has said trillions of dollars will be needed to fund the next stages of AI.

In November, Son and Altman met in Tokyo to hash out an agreement. They next brought their plans to Trump aides with the offer of announcing a giant U.S. investment. On the second day of Trump’s new administration, they stood smiling in the White House beside Trump, vowing to spend $500 billion by 2029.

“This is the beginning of our golden age,” Son said at the White House.

OpenAI and SoftBank each pledged $18 billion to the venture to get started, which they expected would develop data centers and then lease them to OpenAI.

The two companies said they would jointly control the entity, with Son as its chairman. SoftBank would focus on the financial details and OpenAI on the operations, the companies added.

They named Oracle and U.A.E. firm MGX as partners in the initial announcement, but their role was unclear. No agreement setting out their investment levels had been reached at the time.

Masayoshi Son and Sam Altman at SoftBank World 2025.
Son and Altman participated in a Tokyo-based tech event last week. They have been at odds over Stargate partnership terms. Photo: franck robichon/epa/shutterstock
“Stargate is not formed yet,” Oracle Chief Executive Safra Catz said on an investor call last month.

One recent complication between OpenAI and SoftBank has been over how extensively to build data centers on sites tied to SB Energy, a SoftBank-backed energy developer, according to people familiar with the matter.

Altman has used the Stargate name, shared with a 1994 Kurt Russell film about aliens who teleport to ancient Egypt, on projects that aren’t being financed by the partnership between OpenAI and SoftBank. The trademark to Stargate is held by SoftBank, according to public filings.

For instance, OpenAI refers to a data center in Abilene, Texas, and another it agreed in March to use in Denton, Texas, as part of Stargate even though they are being done without SoftBank, some of the people familiar with the matter said.

Building data centers isn’t easy. Companies need to find sites, develop the physical structures—or pay another company to do that—buy expensive AI chips, source vast loads of electricity and find lenders to cover much of the cost, among other details. Stargate is hoping to use a new, lower-cost design for its first project in Ohio, people familiar with the matter said.

Training new, better AI models requires evermore data processing, which means companies including OpenAI are committing to larger and larger spending well before the business models of AI companies have proved profitable.

OpenAI’s $30-billion-a-year deal with Oracle is roughly three times as much as what Altman’s company has recently projected in annual revenue. The company, which is losing billions of dollars a year, is betting its revenue will multiply thanks to the growing ranks of paying customers and advertising, allowing it to pay for its hefty commitments.

Write to Eliot Brown at [e-mail] and Berber Jin at [e-mail]

Corrections & Amplifications
The last name of Oracle Chief Executive Safra Catz was given incorrectly as Katz in an earlier version of this article. (Corrected on July 21)