Elon Musk undermined President Trump late Tuesday by stating that tech giants OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank lack the necessary funds to meet their ambitious $500 billion commitment to invest in U.S. artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO made this remark shortly after President Donald Trump announced the massive initiative, called the Stargate project, during his first full day in office at the White House.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote in response to an OpenAI post about the new venture on his social platform, X.

Musk’s comments undermined Trump’s announcement Tuesday afternoon that Stargate “will invest $500 billion at least” and create “over 100,000 American jobs almost immediately.”

“I think it’s going to be something that’s very special. It’ll lead to something that could be the biggest of all,” said Trump.

On Wednesday morning, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman responded directly to Musk.

“I genuinely respect your accomplishments and think you are the most inspiring entrepreneur of our time,” Altman wrote on X.

Yet Musk’s claim about Softbank’s liquidity was “wrong, as you surely know,” Altman wrote in a follow-up post.

“I realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role i hope you’ll mostly put [American flag emoji] first,” he added.