OpenAI’s Stargate project sparks reactions from Microsoft and Meta CEOs

“All I know is I’m good for $80 billion.”

Rarely does a single line capture the mood of the moment so perfectly. Here, you have the CEO of Microsoft Satya Nadella Saying it’s “not in the details” About Stargate, the supposedly multi-hundred-billion-dollar AI infrastructure project led by its major investment, OpenAI.

Nadella has not been read on Vague details Stargate says a lot about how skewed Microsoft and OpenAI are. Microsoft was mentioned in Stargate press release Because OpenAI models are still exclusive to Azure. But the most striking aspect of Stargate isn’t that the money isn’t there yet; It is the largest supporter of OpenAI that decided not to participate in what Sam Altman It is called “the most important project of this era.” As Nadella explained to CNBC this week, it runs its own $80 billion AI infrastructure, and from now on, OpenAI can get additional computing — With his blessing – Somewhere else.

While it received fewer headlines this week, I did find Nadella’s In response to Elon Musk On X More light. “On the other hand, Satya sure has money,” Nadella responded to Musk: “😂 And all this money is not about hyping AI, it’s about building useful things for the real world!”

This post can only be interpreted as a criticism of Altman. Nadella It could have been financed Stargate for OpenAI. He didn’t. What do the rest of us know that the rest of us don’t?

The dazzling Stargate unveiling at the White House certainly achieved its goal, which clearly had everyone talking about the big numbers. It paid the headlines it generated Mark Zuckerberg To be sure Everyone finished the week knowing for him The data center will be equal greater From Stargate.

On a Friday He posted on his Facebook pageZuckerberg said that he is dead 2GW data center planned in Louisiana “So big that it would cover a large portion of Manhattan,” with a map of the square footage overlaid on the city to drive home the point.

From his post (emphasis added): “We will bring nearly 1 GW of compute online in 2015 and will end the year with over 1.3 million GPUs. We plan to invest $60-$65 billion in capital expenditures this year with Significantly grow our AI teams We have the capital To continue investing in the coming years.”

I have no doubt that Altman, Masayoshi’s sonand Larry Ellison They will be able to raise the billions they need Reducing OpenAI adoption On Microsoft account. (The US government does not provide money for Stargate, which makes announcing it alongside Trump even more bizarre.) Ultimately, all of this points to a theme that will quickly come to define 2025: that big tech companies see AI as the most important. Existential technology for the next era and we will continue to spend aggressively to ensure that OpenAI does not escape it completely.

Few companies had as good a 2024 as Reddit. Since going public last March, the company’s shares have risen 300%, giving the social network a valuation of $32 billion.

It’s a complete turnaround from how Reddit was before it went public, when its moderators railed against rapid changes to the platform and there was backlash over the company selling its data to Google and OpenAI.

With these controversies now in the rearview mirror, Reddit is focusing on growing its user base, staying profitable, and using artificial intelligence. To help people search her site more easily. I met the CEO Steve Hoffman At CES a few weeks ago to hear about his priorities for 2025, how he’s leading Reddit, his thoughts on the debate around scaling AI, content moderation, and more…

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity:

Your IPO did very well. How have the last nine months or so been for you personally?

We have a saying on Reddit that good numbers make for good meetings. So we had some good meetings.

The preparation for the public release was intense. It tells the story over and over again, which I enjoy, but it’s a lot of work. I think, more than most new companies, we go into the rhythm of a public company already: close the quarter, do the audits, have the board meeting, earnings, all of that. So it wasn’t a huge change for us from an operating standpoint.

It’s a really exciting time for new investors and employees. You won’t catch us complaining. What I constantly tell the company is that everyone should be very proud of the work they have done and not take these moments for granted. I just tell them, look, enjoy the view. If you look at our history, you will find a lot of ups and downs. There is no doubt that there are challenges in our future.

With your market cap where it is now, are you thinking about making flips that you didn’t think you could make a year ago?

There are two categories of things we will do. The first is to implement the basic strategy. We have to rent. We have to build. I think we are very reasonable with the amount of our investment. The single wholesale strategy for us is to grow the product and stay profitable.

What can you do with a rising stock price? Maybe you can take a look at mergers and acquisitions that you couldn’t do otherwise. I would say that’s not really our direction right now because our acquisitions over the last couple of years have been deals in the $25 to $50 million range. It’s a great place for us to get technology and teams. I would say we’re always watching the market, but we’re not chasing anything big or crazy right now because I like the fundamental strategy. I believe we can do what we want to do within our current capabilities.

What is the main product focus for Reddit this year?

The first is the core of Reddit, which is community conversations. Everyone has a house on Reddit, but do you see that house on your first session? There’s a whole other dimension to our work, which is Reddit as a source of information. Reddit has all this amazing information. For users who have a question that needs an answer, can we give them that answer? We’ve just started testing Reddit answers. I find this really useful for searches about current events. A year from now, it will be a monetization product. It’s one of the few products that scratches every itch, so it’ll be a big focus.

What do you think about this debate about whether the AI ​​industry has run out of data?

I think we’ll have a different answer to this question literally every month. We want to have good relationships with others in this field. We are open for business.

At the same time, we want to maximize the value we get from our data. We did not encounter any conflict between the two at this stage. I love the (data licensing) relationships we have – the main ones being Google and OpenAI. At this point, we don’t need to establish any particular partnership. I would say it’s nice to have them all but nothing is existential for us.

One challenge is that AI companies don’t know the product they’re building. This is not a bad thing. They repeat themselves. ChatGPT itself, the central product in this conversation, was a demo. Then, a year later, it became the hottest piece of enterprise technology on Earth with questionable economics. This makes it very exciting. I don’t think any of these companies would be offended to hear me say that.

You were one of the first social media CEOs I saw to harshly criticize TikTok. How does the US ban affect Reddit?

If you look at a graph of Reddit traffic over the past 19 years, you won’t see ups and downs for any particular platform. I think every content type should work on Reddit. The video on Reddit is very much an external camera – what I’m looking at – not an internal camera, or who am I? This is social media. I think the ban is the right thing to do for him The reasons you mentioned Which frankly has nothing to do with competition.

With the moderate changes to Meta, it seems like the broader conversation around social media is now changing.

For the last 10 years, people have been talking about whether speech is the problem, which is a crazy idea. You cannot have freedom without freedom of expression. I think with this turn by questioning and questioning America’s core values, I hope this era will come to a close.

Do people play politics? Of course, people always. On the subject of moderation, we always try to do things the right way, which is, not coincidentally, aligned with American values. It is a democratic platform. We strongly believe in the power of people, the wisdom of crowds and voting processes. This is Reddit. So I’m happy to see a return to where we’ve been most of my life, which is an appreciation for freedom of expression.

• Competitors pounce on TikTok: With TikTok not being available in US app stores and its in-app functionality Technically restrictedEveryone is doing their best to make the best of the situation. dead It previously announced its competitor, Capcut And he tries Lure creative people away with money. Substack, Bluesky, and X They are all taking steps To encourage more video consumption. Meanwhile, President Trump says he is OK with Elon Musk or Larry Ellison Buy it. ByteDance says it wants to close a deal but it appears it is not Increasingly backed into the corner. Ellison may have a guarantee that Oracle will not be Fined out of existence It is currently violating the law, but Apple and Google have shown that they will follow the letter of the law. Since TikTok is still not available for download in the US, its competitive threat to Meta, YouTube and others It decreases every day.
• Trump begins working for major technology companies: Why are Zuckerberg and other CEOs kneeling? Look no further than the president’s comments Released at the World Economic Forum this weekHe attacked the EU’s digital markets and services laws as a form of “taxation”. This kind of response is exactly what Meta and other American companies have been praying for. We’ll see if it works for them.
• More titles: OpenAI has released its file An AI agent called an “operator” For professional subscribers… Musk Tell X employees “User growth is stagnant, revenues are mediocre, and we’re barely breaking even.”… Apple Reorganized again Because it is playing catch-up with artificial intelligence… Google is Put in another billion dollars To Google Cloud via Anthropic and I got to be part of HTC’s Vive team To enhance Android XR efforts (Yes, get ready for the return of glass)… Epic Games Gave update In its quest to compete with Roblox… ft. dead a Rare investment in Databricks.

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