Musk Tried to Derail Deal Between OpenAI and UAE Stargate

Elon Musk tried to derail an AI infrastructure deal in the United Arab Emirates. The deal includes OpenAI but not Musk's xAI startup.

OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank Group, Nvidia, and Cisco are building a Stargate AI campus in the UAE, but Musk attempted to get xAI involved. He has a long-standing feud with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and has voiced his opposition to the $500 billion Stargate AI joint venture announced by US President Donald Trump shortly after his inauguration in January.

Musk claimed Trump would not approve of the Stargate UAE campus, which also includes conglomerate G42. The SpaceX CEO’s opposition delayed the announcement of the campus by several days. He was not in the UAE when the deal was reached, but was with President Trump in Saudi Arabia as part of a trip to three Middle East countries, an official in the US administration said.

Elon Musk was a co-founder of OpenAI but left the organization in 2018 over clashes with Altman and has since heavily criticized the company’s revised business model. Altman rejected a $97.4 billion attempt by a Musk-led consortium to take charge of the non-profit group that controls the AI company in February. OpenAI announced last month its non-profit division would retain control over its for-profit organization, after previously announcing a plan to convert.