Trump’s Stargate demands you accelerate your Services-as-Software plans

US President Donald Trump’s Stargate initiative—a $500 billion AI infrastructure project designed to secure America’s technological supremacy in collaboration with OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and other tech leaders, promises a transformative leap in AI.

Stargate targets advancements across healthcare, national defense, and enterprise productivity. With plans to construct vast data centers—already underway in Texas—and create more than 100,000 jobs, the project intends to scale access and capability for businesses to adopt and integrate AI into their operations. For enterprises navigating the shift toward the HFS Services-as-Software 2030 vision (see Exhibit 1), prepare to accelerate your plans.

Exhibit 1: Stargate is about building the AI infrastructure to enable firms to deliver value with technology instead of human labor—heading for ‘Services-as-Software’

Source: HFS Research, 2025

Data centers are a strategic play to power OpenAI’s advancement

The Stargate initiative is about building the infrastructure America needs to sustain and expand its AI capabilities. The Texas data centers are designed to provide the compute power for high-performance AI models. The US already dominates in data centers—hosting 5,388 (45% of the global total), with Germany, the UK, and China the next closest (522, 517, and 449, respectively).

The new facilities will primarily benefit OpenAI, the project’s operational lead. While the initiative is framed as a national investment in AI, it is, in effect, a strategic private sector play to power OpenAI’s advancements. It also buoys Oracle Cloud as a key AI infrastructure player, a role that has largely been left to the three major hyperscalers: AWS, Microsoft, and Google Cloud. Until now, Oracle’s most notable AI infrastructure involvement was a deal with OpenAI in 2024 to extend the Microsoft Azure Al platform to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) to provide additional capacity for OpenAI.

Stargate will likely help enterprises address skills shortages by scaling access to AI across sectors to streamline operations and enhance productivity. This represents a significant acceleration of the transition to what HFS calls Services-as-Software, where traditional labor-intensive services are increasingly automated and delivered through AI-enabled platforms.

This is no equal opportunity initiative

Who ultimately gains from this massive investment (if it becomes real)?

OpenAI stands at the center, with operational responsibility for the project and direct access to the compute power being built. Oracle, a long-time OpenAI partner, is involved due to its existing relationship as a cloud provider. SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son is the project’s chairman, with OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank financing the initiative.

The project is not structured as an equal opportunity initiative for the broader AI ecosystem. Instead, it consolidates power and resources around a specific subset of companies, potentially sidelining competitors such as Google and AWS. HFS expects significant public sector contracts to eventually be linked to Stargate data centers.

How Oracle landed a seat at this table—and why the absence of rivals could be good for you

Oracle has been playing catch-up in the cloud market with its Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Despite its efforts, OCI has yet to reach a $10 billion run rate, despite OpenAI as one of its leading consumers. The Stargate initiative may help Oracle close the gap on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP) regarding cloud business and data center footprint. However, this will likely remain North America-centric for now.

In today’s tech-arbitrage world, ecosystem is all. Google’s absence from Stargate is notable. The company’s focus on its own AI and cloud initiatives likely positions it as a competitor. AWS is also conspicuously absent. This could signal tension within the cloud and AI market—providing the competitive options enterprises need as rivals continue to invest. Stargate will not have the field to itself.

Accountability may be sidelined—but you can’t afford to dump your commitments to governance

The Stargate initiative’s $500 billion investment in AI innovation coincides with a significant US policy change: the revocation of the Responsible AI Executive Order. This Biden-era directive aimed to address AI risks and ensure ethical deployment. To be fair, the Biden directive was largely at the findings and recommendations stage, so there is not much obvious roll-back. However, it has halted the progress of federal AI protections. Is accountability being sidelined in the AI arms race?

The absence of a robust governance framework risks exacerbating concerns around AI misuse, bias, and ethical lapses. With so much power consolidated among so few entities, ensuring transparency, fairness, and societal alignment in AI development becomes an urgent challenge.

Enterprises must be vigilant about the implications of deploying AI without sufficient oversight. Enterprise leaders will have to deal with the fallout if your data gets spilled or disgruntled customers feel negatively impacted by obscure decision-making. Enterprises and regulators must cooperate to ensure the benefits of AI are broadly distributed and aligned with societal values.

Stargate is a tipping point on the journey to Services-as-Software

Enabling the transition to Services-as-Software demands dynamic, intelligent systems that adapt to changing needs. Stargate’s promise to revolutionize AI infrastructure could be a tipping point for this evolution. Here’s how:

• Enhanced automation: By delivering advanced computational power, Stargate could drive the next wave of automation, enabling enterprises to replace labor-intensive processes with AI-driven efficiency.
• Scalability and cost reduction: AI platforms powered by Stargate’s infrastructure will offer new scalability, enabling enterprises to handle growing workloads without proportionate cost increases.
• Real-time decision-making: With faster processing and lower latency, businesses can make real-time decisions, enhancing customer experiences and operational agility.

Infrastructure is there to be used—here’s how to take advantage

For enterprises, Stargate’s impact will be felt across operational, strategic, and competitive dimensions. To harness these developments, organizations should:

1. Invest in AI readiness: Infrastructure alone won’t deliver value unless enterprises are prepared to integrate AI effectively. This means:
   • Building data architectures to leverage Stargate’s advanced computing capabilities.
   • Partnering with technology vendors capable of delivering tailored AI solutions.
   • Exploring edge computing to process and analyze data closer to its source, reducing reliance on centralized systems.
2. Reskill the workforce: As AI automates routine tasks, enterprises must reskill their workforces to focus on higher-value activities, including strategy, creativity, and oversight. Programs to upskill employees in data analysis, machine learning, and AI ethics are vital to long-term success.
3. Balance innovation with governance: While the Stargate initiative opens doors to innovation, it also necessitates careful governance. Enterprises must:
   • Ensure AI models are explainable and unbiased.
   • Address data privacy concerns, especially for regulated industries such as healthcare and finance.
   • Establish ethical frameworks to guide AI deployment.

Announcements don’t all pan out

Elon Musk’s legal battles with OpenAI and his criticisms of it explain why he won’t support an initiative that bolsters OpenAI’s dominance—already evidenced by his flurry of X posts questioning Stargate’s access to capital.

HFS receives hundreds of announcements about how tech and service firm partnerships will change their worlds—and yours. We believe it is always good to know what may be coming—but until such partnerships and/or new platforms are in the hands of enterprise and making an impact, it’s all just window dressing. Right now, Stargate is little more than an announcement—albeit one from The White House.

The Bottom Line: Stargate sets the tone—the journey to Services-as-Software has never been more urgent or promising

Even if Stargate misses its moonshot aspirations, it indicates the direction the US is undertaking for the near future. That alone makes it a clarion call for enterprises to rethink their approach to AI and automation. Success will hinge on execution, particularly the ability of partners such as Oracle to deliver transformative infrastructure.

For enterprises, the message is clear: invest in readiness, focus on workforce transformation, and embrace the convergence of services and software to thrive in the AI era. HFS Research will continue to track these developments and explore how Stargate’s infrastructure influences enterprise strategies and the global shift toward AI-powered services.