OpenAI, Nvidia, Oracle, Microsoft, and others have joined forces in a massive AI infrastructure venture called Stargate, pledging up to $500 billion to build next-generation data centers. Despite being fierce competitors in many areas — from cloud to hardware — these companies are now pooling their resources to jointly develop critical AI compute capacity.
A Yale Law School researcher, Madhavi Singh, argues that this alliance could break U.S. antitrust laws dating back over a century. In her analysis, Singh warns that the joint venture risks cartel-like behavior because it coordinates formerly competitive companies across multiple layers of the AI “stack” — from chips to cloud infrastructure.
Singh specifically points to possible violations of the Sherman Act and the Clayton Act. Under her reading, Stargate could stifle future competition by limiting independent decision-making in chip production and data-center operations — consolidating power instead of creating a new competitive force.
There’s also concern about the political backing behind the project. Stargate enjoys support from the Trump administration, and Singh alleges this support may be helping the consortium sidestep serious regulatory scrutiny.
