Trump had phone call with OpenAI’s Sam Altman last week about AI infrastructure

Prior to officially becoming president, Donald Trump held a lengthy conversation with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on Friday to discuss the potential of artificial intelligence and the need to develop the technology in the U.S., CNBC has learned.

During the chat, Trump was particularly animated about building AI here instead of having it developed in China, and what that could mean for job creation and a sign of confidence in the U.S. in his administration, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the conversation was private.

Following Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the president quickly got to work touting the importance of AI. He announced a joint venture on Tuesday with OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure in the U.S. OpenAI’s participation is notable because Altman is in the midst of a heated legal battle with Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Trump’s top financial backer in the 2024 campaign and an adviser who previously co-founded OpenAI in 2015 as a nonprofit.

Musk swiftly undercut the newly announced project, dubbed Stargate, writing in a post on X that “They don’t actually have the money” to back up their pledge to invest $500 billion. He added that he knew “on good authority” that SoftBank “has well under $10B secured.”

Altman responded on Wednesday morning, writing on X that while Musk is “the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” his claims are “wrong, as you surely know.” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in an interview on CNBC that, “All I know is, I’m good for my $80 billion,” referring to his company’s plans to invest in AI-enabled data centers this year. Microsoft is OpenAI’s main financial backer.

Musk, who’s leading Trump’s new government efficiency advisory board, is suing OpenAI to try and keep it from converting into a for-profit entity. The two sides have sparred in court filings and in public. In a blog post in December, OpenAI wrote that in 2017, Musk “not only wanted, but actually created a for-profit” to serve as the company’s proposed new structure. OpenAI published screenshots of emails from Musk to back up its claims.

While Altman’s relationship with Musk has frayed, the OpenAI CEO still has ties to Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, a big Trump supporter, which has helped his standing with the president’s team, the source said. Oracle and OpenAI struck a cloud-computing partnership in June.

Altman also has a close relationship with SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, another source said. Son publicly pledged $100 billion to invest in the U.S. ahead of the Stargate announcement, and Softbank has also backed OpenAI. 

WATCH: President Trump speaks on AI infrastructure investment