Aug 8 (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 ( AAPL ) 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.