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In May 2025, a report said tariff uncertainty was making it harder for OpenAI and SoftBank to arrange financing for Stargate, their vast AI-infrastructure plan. That was a warning about funding and costs—not evidence that construction had stopped everywhere or that Stargate had been canceled. Subsequent announcements described new sites, construction and planned capacity, although much of the project’s scale remains company-reported rather than independently verified.
What Stargate is—and what its headline price means
Stargate is a broad initiative to build data centers and the associated power, networking, chip and operating infrastructure needed for OpenAI workloads. It is better understood as a portfolio of projects than as one construction site or a single financing deal.
When Stargate was announced in January 2025, SoftBank described a target of up to $500 billion in investment over four years, beginning with an initial $100 billion. Those were announced targets, not evidence that $500 billion had already been raised, spent or irrevocably committed. The announcement named SoftBank, OpenAI, Oracle and MGX as initial equity funders and said construction was already underway in Texas. SoftBank’s announcement described SoftBank’s financial responsibility and leadership role, OpenAI’s operational role, and Oracle’s infrastructure role.
Individual sites can have different developers, operators, funding arrangements and schedules. OpenAI also announced infrastructure partnerships involving Oracle and CoreWeave. A site associated with Stargate may therefore be under development without the entire program sharing one financing structure or timetable.
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On May 12, 2025, TechCrunch summarized Bloomberg reporting that banks, private-equity firms and asset managers were cautious about financing Stargate. The report said SoftBank had not yet developed a financing template or begun detailed discussions with potential backers. It described market volatility, tariff uncertainty and questions about future AI demand and data-center utilization as obstacles to underwriting a project of this scale. TechCrunch’s account of the Bloomberg report is the basis for those May financing claims.
The distinction matters: the reporting concerned difficulty arranging financing and uncertainty around costs and plans. It did not establish a project-wide shutdown. Texas construction had been announced at launch, months before the report.
How tariffs could affect a data-center build
Tariffs can affect more than the headline price of a chip. Potentially exposed items include server racks, cooling systems, chips and accelerator-related equipment, electrical and power-distribution systems, networking hardware, construction materials and specialized components. The effect depends on the product, its origin, how it is classified and whether suppliers pass costs along.
A TD Cowen analysis cited in the May 2025 reporting estimated that tariff-related price increases could raise average data-center construction costs by roughly 5% to 15%, with some operators potentially facing larger increases. That was an analyst estimate—not a measured Stargate cost overrun.
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There are several ways uncertainty can reach a project before a tariff bill is paid:
- Direct cost: A tariff raises the landed cost of an imported component.
- Supplier pricing: A supplier may raise prices or build in a risk premium while tariff rules remain unsettled, even if the final charge is smaller or does not apply.
- Procurement delay: A developer may wait for policy clarity before placing large orders, potentially pushing back construction or equipment installation.
- Financing reserve: Lenders may require a larger contingency for cost overruns, reducing expected returns or making a proposed loan harder to approve.
Domestic sourcing may reduce some exposure, but it is not an automatic fix: domestic equipment can be more expensive or less available, and components in a product’s supply chain may still be imported.
Why financing was the bigger issue
For a capital-intensive buildout, a plausible cost estimate is only part of the financing case. Equity investors provide capital in exchange for ownership and potential returns; project lenders provide debt that must be repaid under agreed terms. Lenders generally need confidence in construction budgets, schedules, power availability and the revenue or customer commitments that will support repayment.
Tariff uncertainty can complicate that calculation even if the eventual added cost proves manageable. A wider range of possible costs can require a larger reserve, weaken projected returns or delay a financing decision. At Stargate’s proposed scale, SoftBank’s ability to raise or arrange capital and OpenAI’s ability to sustain demand and revenue growth were central to the case investors had to assess.
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The May report also pointed to risks beyond tariffs: volatile markets, falling prices for AI services and concern that the industry might build data-center capacity faster than customers would use it. It said Microsoft and Amazon were changing some data-center strategies, including pulling back from certain construction plans. Those factors made tariff uncertainty part of a broader underwriting problem, not a standalone explanation for the project’s prospects.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happened after the financing doubts
| Date | Announcement or report | What it establishes |
|---|---|---|
| January 22, 2025 | SoftBank announced Stargate, a target of up to $500 billion over four years and an initial $100 billion, with construction underway in Texas. | Company-announced targets and a Texas construction claim—not proof that the full investment had been secured or spent. SoftBank |
| May 12, 2025 | TechCrunch summarized Bloomberg reporting on financing caution and tariff-related uncertainty. | A time-specific report about financing and planning difficulties, not confirmation of a project-wide halt. TechCrunch |
| July 2025 | OpenAI announced an expanded Oracle partnership. | OpenAI said Stargate would have more than 5 GW of data-center capacity under development and support more than 2 million chips. These were company projections, not independently audited operating totals. OpenAI |
| September 24, 2025 | OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank announced five additional U.S. sites. | The companies said the broader plan represented nearly 7 GW of planned capacity and more than $400 billion in investment over three years. These were announced plans, not operating capacity or verified spending. OpenAI and SoftBank |
| April 29, 2026 | OpenAI published an infrastructure update. | OpenAI said GPT-5.5 had been trained at its Abilene, Texas, flagship site and that it was planning beyond its initial 10-GW objective. Those are OpenAI’s claims. OpenAI |
| June 1, 2026 | Oracle announced construction of “The Barn,” a Stargate campus in Saline Township, Michigan. | Oracle said construction was underway and described a financing structure combining equity and long-term debt. Oracle |
The later announcements show that Stargate expanded beyond the May 2025 financing concerns. They do not, by themselves, prove that every planned site is funded, that every announced gigawatt is operational, or that the original investment target will be reached.
How to read the project’s progress claims
Four separate questions help distinguish a real milestone from a headline number:
- Financing: Is capital committed or arranged for a specific site, or is it still a target or discussion?
- Construction: Is physical work underway at a named location, or is the project only announced?
- Capacity: Is the stated figure planned, under development, installed or operational?
- Demand: Are there credible workloads and customer commitments to use the infrastructure and support its costs?
A program can have construction underway at one site while financing for other sites remains unsettled. It can also expand its announced plans while facing delays, changing equipment needs or questions about eventual utilization. The later site announcements should therefore be read as evidence of continued development, not as proof that all financing and execution risks disappeared.
What could still derail or reshape the buildout
- Policy and procurement: Tariffs could change, be delayed or apply differently across product categories; suppliers could still pass through costs.
- Power and site readiness: Grid connections and electrical infrastructure can take longer than building the data-center shell.
- Equipment constraints: Chips, cooling systems and power equipment may become bottlenecks, and hardware generations can change before a facility is fully equipped.
- Demand and economics: If AI-service prices fall faster than infrastructure costs, or model workloads become more efficient, projected utilization and returns may change. Conversely, sustained demand could strengthen the case for more capacity.
- Financing by site: Funding for one campus does not guarantee financing for the wider portfolio; debt brings repayment obligations and lender requirements.
- Local constraints: Electricity and water use, land, noise, housing, community opposition and tax incentives can affect approvals and schedules.
- Partner structure: A project branded as part of Stargate may have a separate developer, financing plan and timetable, making portfolio-wide totals difficult to interpret.
The available announcements support a cautious conclusion: tariff uncertainty exposed how sensitive a very large infrastructure plan is to cost, timing and financing assumptions. The subsequent record shows continued expansion and construction announcements, but not a basis for declaring the entire $500 billion target funded or completed.
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