SoftBank Group reportedly acquired a factory in Ohio from Foxconn which it will use to build AI data centre equipment under President Donald Trump’s Stargate project, in a boost to the $500 billion initiative.

Nikkei Asia reported Foxconn chair Young Liu had confirmed the news to reporters, after Bloomberg first broke the story.

Foxconn stated earlier this month it had struck a deal to sell the factory and associated machinery for $375 million, but it did not name a buyer. The factory was previously used to develop EVs.

Liu stated Foxconn will run the factory for SoftBank, and it had been working with the Japanese company on the project for the past six months.

He added the Ohio plant had the necessary electricity and land needed to build AI infrastructure, and the timing was now right as Stargate “can’t wait for too long”.

Trump unveiled the Stargate joint venture in January, bringing together OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle to build out AI infrastructure with investment in the project earmarked to reach $500 billion over the next four years.

Bloomberg reported SoftBank has been looking at a number of potential data centre sites to serve as a flagship for Stargate over the past eight months, taking into account access to water, power and telecoms networks.

Indeed, when Trump first revealed Stargate SoftBank founder Masayoshi Son said his company alone would invest $100 billion in the US on AI-related infrastructure.

However, concerns have been raised over Stargate and momentum has stalled due to the impact of US tariffs, cheaper AI models emerging from China and question marks over financing raised by Elon Musk and others.