The US government wants a piece of the AI pie. President Donald Trump announced on June 5 that his administration is actively weighing the acquisition of equity stakes in leading artificial intelligence companies, a move that would mark one of the most direct government interventions in the tech sector in modern history.
Trump made the announcement aboard Air Force One, adding that a meeting with top AI executives could happen as soon as next week. The guest list reportedly includes leaders from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle, and SpaceX.
From chips to chatbots: the Intel playbook
In August 2025, the US government converted CHIPS Act grants into roughly 433 million shares of Intel, representing approximately a 9.9% stake at an original price of $20.47 per share. By April 2026, the value of those shares had ballooned, contributing to a total gain of approximately $26.5 billion for the government.
OpenAI’s Sam Altman has been pitching this for over a year
The idea of a government stake in AI companies didn’t originate in the Oval Office. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reportedly been in discussions with the Trump administration about exactly this kind of arrangement since early 2025.
What this means for investors
But there’s a more complicated layer here. Direct government ownership introduces questions that don’t have clean answers yet. What governance rights come with the stake? Does a 10% government position in OpenAI mean a seat on the board? Does it mean preferential access to models for defense applications?
The risk that investors should be watching most closely is regulatory capture. When the government is simultaneously your regulator and your shareholder, the incentive structures get weird. Companies with government stakes may receive favorable treatment on everything from data access to export controls, creating a two-tier system that disadvantages competitors without Uncle Sam on the cap table.
The IPO pipeline adds another dimension. If companies like Anthropic, xAI, and OpenAI go public with the US government already holding equity, their valuations at listing could be meaningfully higher than they would be otherwise.