Check out this March 2024 Announcement of Stargate, just in case anyone was wondering how / why its data center buildings already exist in Texas, so soon after Stargate "was announced" -- it's because this was a actually a re-announcement / PR boost by the Trump Admin. Sam and Larry (along w/ Softbank) did a bit of a kabuki theater "re-announcement" dance, for all of us. Nice.
No wonder Satya was emphatic the other day that Microsoft is still "good for $80 billion" for this already-existing project. I do think Softbank's stepped-up involvement probably made the "hey look!" re-boost worth it, though.
I think a lot of previous admin initiatives go through this: the next admin re-boosts it, to continue momentum. But I am surprised that Trump didn't even try to re-brand it—just (re)announcing it. And doing so as if it's a brand new thing.
