Musk Slams Trump-backed AI Mega Project

 Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP)
Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP)
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Musk Slams Trump-backed AI Mega Project

 Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP)
Elon Musk, right, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (AP)

Elon Musk on Wednesday cast doubt on a $500 billion AI project announced by US President Donald Trump, saying the money promised for the investment actually wasn't there.

The comments were a rare instance of a split between the world's richest man and Trump, with Musk playing a key role in the newly installed administration after spending $270 million on the election campaign.

In his first full day in the White House, Trump on Tuesday announced a major investment to build infrastructure for artificial intelligence led by Japanese giant SoftBank and ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

Trump said the venture, called Stargate, "will invest $500 billion, at least, in AI infrastructure in the United States."

But in a post on his social media platform X, Musk said the main investors "don't actually have the money."

"SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority," Musk added in a subsequent post.

Musk's sideswipe could be particularly targeted at OpenAI, the world's leading AI startup that Musk helped found, before leaving in 2018.

The Tesla boss and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman, who was present at the White House on Tuesday, have been mired in a serious feud, with Musk opening repeated lawsuits against the company behind ChatGPT.

OpenAI is one of the world's highest valued startups, but loses money on the high costs of turning out its expensive technology.

According to the Wall Street Journal, cloud giant Oracle, which is also involved, has about $11 billion in cash and securities. SoftBank has roughly $30 billion of cash on hand.

The Stargate project is committed to investing an initial $100 billion and up to $500 billion over the next four years in the project.



Abu Dhabi's Cryptomining firm Phoenix Group Enters Africa with Power Purchase Deal

Abu Dhabi's Cryptomining firm Phoenix Group Enters Africa with Power Purchase Deal
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Abu Dhabi's Cryptomining firm Phoenix Group Enters Africa with Power Purchase Deal

Abu Dhabi's Cryptomining firm Phoenix Group Enters Africa with Power Purchase Deal

Abu Dhabi-listed cryptomining and blockchain conglomerate Phoenix Group has struck an 80-megawatt (MW) power purchase agreement (PPA) in Ethiopia, it said on Wednesday, as it pursues a global diversification strategy by entering the Africa market.

Under the deal, Ethiopian Electric Power (EEP) will provide the energy needed to support Phoenix's bitcoin mining expansion, with supplies due to start in the second quarter.

The firm did not provide details on the location of the facility or the size of the deal, which was signed in partnership with Abu Dhabi cybersecurity firm Data7, it said in a statement, Reuters reported.

"We are aggressively building out our mining capabilities," Phoenix CEO Munaf Ali said, adding the additional capacity would fuel further growth as the company prepares for a dual-listing on Nasdaq.

The company "is actively engaged in discussions with financial institutions and NASDAQ to evaluate the most effective way forward", it said in a separate statement to Reuters, without providing a timeline for the listing.

Phoenix, which counts Abu Dhabi's largest listed firm IHC among its shareholders, operates multiple mining facilities in countries including the UAE, the US and Canada.