(Reuters) -SoftBank Group Corp is acquiring Foxconn Technology Group’s electric vehicle plant in Ohio, in a bid to launch the Japanese company’s Stargate data center project, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.
U.S. President Donald Trump in January announced Stargate, a private sector investment of up to $500 billion for AI infrastructure, funded by SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle.
SoftBank, which has struggled to create a financial plan for Stargate, approached Foxconn to get the Apple supplier on board with its plan to build data centers and related infrastructure throughout the U.S., which led to the sale of the plant, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Ohio site may be used to host a data center, Bloomberg said.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. SoftBank declined to comment, while Foxconn did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
The Stargate Project is expected create more than 100,000 jobs in the U.S.
(Reporting by Devika Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sonia Cheema)
