Stargate AI project news sends Oracle and SoftBank stock prices soaring

Software giant Oracle and Japan’s SoftBank Group saw their share prices rise by double digits on Wednesday morning. The boost came in the wake of an announcement yesterday by President Trump that the firms will be part of a joint venture meant to create hundreds of billions of dollars in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Here’s a quick recap of what’s happening:

What exactly was announced?

Oracle, SoftBank, and OpenAI will create a new company called Stargate, the companies announced along with Trump yesterday. They will initially invest $100 billion to create and grow AI infrastructure in the United States, with the plan to invest as much as $500 billion over the next four years.

As CNN reported, Trump appeared at the White House alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison for the announcement.

“This infrastructure will secure American leadership in AI, create hundreds of thousands of American jobs, and generate massive economic benefit for the entire world,” OpenAI said in an announcement on its website. “This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies.”

How have the markets reacted?

Investors in companies directly involved in and adjacent to the announcement appear to be pretty excited.

Japan-listed shares of SoftBank were up more than 10% after hours, while U.S.-listed shares of Oracle Corp were up close to 11% in premarket trading.

Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, saw its stock rise only about 1.68% in premarket trading on Wednesday, although shares could be bogged down by news that the tech giant will no longer be OpenAI’s exclusive cloud provider, as CNBC reported. As part of the announcement, though, OpenAI said it will “continue to increase its consumption of Azure.”

Nvidia, whose chips power much of the underlying infrastructure behind AI, saw its stock rise around 3.44% in premarket trading. The company was identified as a “key technology partner” for Stargate along with British semiconductor company Arm Holdings, whose shares were up more than 5%.

The news, announced on Day One of Trump’s second term, indicates that artificial intelligence is going to be a priority for the incoming administration.