U.S. President Donald Trump announced that his team is exploring a proposal for the federal government to become an equity partner with major artificial‑intelligence companies, effectively giving the American public a stake in those firms.
The companies specifically mentioned for discussion at the White House next week are Anthropic, OpenAI, and xAI; SpaceX is also noted as an upcoming public debut, with each expected to target trillion‑dollar valuations.
In response, AI‑related technology stocks rallied in early Monday pre‑market trading: Nvidia rose more than 1% by 04:14 ET, Marvell Technology and Micron Technology each gained between 4% and 7%, while AMD and Intel added over 1% each. Conversely, Google (Alphabet) slipped 1.2%.
The proposal follows a separate initiative by Senator Bernie Sanders, who suggested a one‑time 50% tax on AI‑lab share sales, with proceeds directed to a U.S. sovereign‑wealth fund. Sanders argues the tax would ensure AI‑generated wealth benefits the broader public.
The Sanders plan attracted criticism from David Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist and Trump adviser, who questioned its practicality.
The Trump administration has previously taken an unusually active role in the corporate sector, acquiring stakes in Intel and several unnamed rare‑earth and quantum‑computing companies.
Earlier this week, the White House revised an AI executive order: leading AI developers are now asked to voluntarily submit their most capable models for government cybersecurity testing before public release, after canceling a signing ceremony for a prior order on May 21.
Concerns about AI risks have intensified, highlighted by Anthropic’s release of the powerful Mythos tool, which experts warn could accelerate sophisticated cyber‑attacks, especially against sectors like banking that rely on legacy, interconnected systems.
