'I'm good for my $80 billion': Microsoft's Satya Nadella on financing Stargate. Elon Musk reacts

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Tesla CEO Elon Musk (Image credit: AFP)

After being accused by Elon Musk that companies do not have the money promised to invest in US President Donald Trump-backed $500 billion Stargate AI project, Satya Nadella has come forward to say that he is definite about investing $80 billion in it.

The initiative, which Trump described as “a resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential,” is supposed to be funded by OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank and is set to kick off with an initial $100 billion private investment led by Masayoshi Son, Oracle’s Larry Ellison, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Speaking to CNBC, Nadella said, "Look, all I know is: I'm good for my $80 billion. I am going to spend $80 billion building out Azure. Customers can count on Microsoft with OpenAI models being there everywhere in the world serving OpenAI models and other models. That's I think, what I know."

Microsoft is a key investor in OpenAI and is listed as one of its key initial partners in the Stargate project.

Reacting to his interview, Musk said on Thursday, "On the other hand, Satya definitely does have the money."

On the other hand, Satya definitely does have the money https://t.co/VGBObPG7fM

Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2025

The development is the latest after Musk, the richest person in the world and the chief of Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency, announced on X that SoftBank has under $10 billion to invest in Stargate.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk said on Wednesday. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”

Responding to it, Altman took to X and wrote: “Wrong, as you surely know. Want to come visit the first site already under way? This is great for the country. I realise what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role, I hope you’ll mostly put [the United States] first."