TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A newly announced $500 billion private sector investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure from President Donald Trump could bring major advancements to AI research and development in Tucson.
That's according to experts at the University of Arizona.
The initiative, called the Stargate Project, is a collaboration between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle. It aims to establish a nationwide network of advanced data centers to support AI innovation by 2029.
Ash Black, director of the university’s AI Core, said this investment is different than any other investment for AI. “It’s also very physical. It’s about energy, data, product data centers and even building reactors to power them."
The funding could help the U.S. maintain a competitive edge in AI development after China recently released DeepSeek-R1, an open-source AI model that allows anyone to access and modify its technology for free.
Jackson Grove, an AI engineer and student at the University of Arizona, said the competition highlights the importance of AI infrastructure. “It can be seen as a race between the U.S. and China, but I think it’s really a race between open source and proprietary models,” Grove said.
The investment is also expected to have a significant economic impact not only here, but across the U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the initiative will create more than 100,000 jobs. “Not only is there going to be jobs created out of the building of this investment, but also from the investment itself,” Grove said.
While AI’s rapid advancement can seem scary to some, Black said it should be embraced rather than feared. “This is really about humans rising to the challenge of adapting to an incredible technological shift,” he said.
The University of Arizona continues to push forward AI innovation and new projects, with experts predicting the biggest impact in Tucson will be in construction, energy development, and AI-driven knowledge work.
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