SoftBank's $50M Trump gift precedes massive AI data center deal
softbank donated $50m to trump's library months before securing a federal land lease for an ai data center, raising bribery concerns among lawmakers.
lawmakers are questioning softbank's timing after the company admitted donating $50 million to the trump presidential library in january, just two months before announcing a public-private partnership to build a data center at a us department of energy site in ohio. the project, dubbed the world's largest ai data center, relies on softbank leasing federal land and building a 9.2gw gas-fired power plant to support operations. senators elizabeth warren and richard blumenthal have flagged the sequence of events as a potential bribery scandal, contrasting this donation with softbank's historical donations to past presidential libraries made only after presidents left office. this development highlights the increasing intersection of ai infrastructure needs and political influence, as companies require massive federal cooperation for power and land resources.