You do realize MS is part of the STARGATE project, right?
And the $500 billion is the *projected* lifetime investment of the project. The only guarantee is $100B from Softbank, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle and others.
MS alone is projecting $100B for their data center investment so this is likely not added spend but only part of it. Ditto for Oracle, and the others. With "others" being key: in today's global economy, the US is already sucking investment cash from all over leaving little for other stressed economies looking to do their own AI investments. Brain drain will follow.
There is both less to this than the media makes of it, and more, but in other areas.
If anything, it reminds me of the Reagan era SDI effort, except the money isn't coming from the feds. Other than grandstanding, the prez is greasing the skids by ensuring minimal red tape interference.
But the grandstanding serves a geopolitical purpose; it sets a target for China to go after, which they will with their usual money printing tactics. At a time their economy is under stress with an unholy mix of inflation and deflation on top of demographic decline. They'll do it but they won't enjoy it.
A tangled web is weaving.
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