Donald Trump says he isn't bothered by Elon Musk's Stargate criticism as the CEO 'hates one of the people in the deal'

• Donald Trump isn't angry about Elon Musk criticizing his Stargate venture for AI infrastructure.
• Trump said Thursday that he had spoken with Musk after Musk claimed that Stargate lacked funding.
• Musk is in a legal fight with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who is involved in the Stargate venture.

President Donald Trump said he doesn't mind Elon Musk, one of his key advisors, casting doubt on the recently announced Stargate deal for AI infrastructure.

Musk had called into question how much money OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank had raised for Stargate. The joint venture is supposed to invest $500 billion, but Musk tweeted that SoftBank had "well under $10B secured." At a press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Trump whether Musk's criticism bothered him.

"No, it doesn't," Trump replied to the reporter.

"He hates one of the people in the deal," he added, presumably referring to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, with whom Musk has been sparring online.

Musk was one of the people who founded OpenAI in 2015 with Altman. Since then, he has left the company, started a legal battle with OpenAI, and founded xAI, a competing AI startup.

In response to a follow-up question on Thursday, Trump said that the parties involved in Stargate are "very, very smart people."

"But Elon, one of the people he happens to hate, but I have certain hatreds of people, too," the president said. Trump confirmed that he had spoken to Musk since he posted his tweets.

Stargate, which Trump and representatives from the three companies announced on Tuesday at the White House, is supposed to make AGI possible in the US and create new jobs, Trump said.

The privately funded joint venture is one of Trump's first major technology initiatives since taking office on Monday. The president appears to have warmer relationships with many Big Tech leaders now than during his first term.