President Trump said Thursday the federal role in the $500 billion Stargate Project to build AI data centers nationwide will include a promise of “rapid approvals” for electricity generating facilities built directly next door to new data centers.
In comments to the World Economic Forum, Trump also said clean coal readily available in the US should be considered a resource to provide backup fuel for future electricity generators.
Generators could be “right attached” to new data centers, he said. “Don’t worry about that…We have more coal, oil and gas” than other nations. “Anybody will get rapid approvals,” he added, meaning other data center investors beyond the joint partners in Stargate -- OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle and MGX.
Trump’s comments were televised remotely in response to questions from several CEOs seated onstage at the WEF Annual Meeting 2025 event in Davos, Switzerland.
RELATED: Stargate joint venture to pump $500 billion into AI infrastructure
Since its formal announcement on Tuesday, Stargate has come under scrutiny, mainly from Elon Musk, billionaire advisor to President Trump. Musk questioned on X whether Stargate has even $10 billion in available funds for its ambitious $500 billion project. The investors “don’t actually have the money” to back up their plan, he said and added that SoftBank “has well under $10B secured.”
Musk’s comments came a few hours after President Trump unveiled the massive project at the White House. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, responded via X that Musk’s claim about Softbank’s liquidity was “wrong, as you surely know.”
Altman asked Musk if he would like to come to the first Stargate site already underway in Abilene, Texas. Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison said the Abilene project already has 10 buildings erected of 20 buildings planned, each half a million square feet.
SemiAnalysis posted a rough aerial photo of the Abilene site showing buildings under construction, but questioned if Stargate will go beyond the initial $100 billion committed to the $500 million project. “The reality is that only the first phase is certain, which is a portion of the committed $100 billion, but the top line number is being counted in an interesting way to say the least,” wrote SemiAnalysis.
President Trump on Tuesday had suggested faster approvals for Stargate electricity generating facilities, but his comments to the WEF were more specific on that support. None of the investors for Stargate have commented directly on what President Trump has promised, but have praised his support.
Trump’s nominee for Interior secretary, former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum last week had told members of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that “baseload electricity” using coal and natural gas was needed for 24x7 operations at future generating facilities. “Without baseload, we’re going to lose the AI arms race to China,” Burgum said. “AI is manufacturing intelligence and if we don’t manufacture more intelligence than our adversaries, that affects every job, every company and every industry.”
In his WEF comments, President Trump said the electricity demands from AI will double in coming years, necessitating the need for more generating capacity. “Can you imagine?” he added. That need will require building electricity generation “next to data centers,” he added.
“Don’t look at the grid, which is old,” he said, he told investors. “They said, “Wow!”
RELATED: When ‘Drill Baby, Drill!’ becomes ‘Generate Baby, Generate’ for AI’s sake