U.S. Government Explores Equity Stakes in Leading AI Companies

President Donald Trump announced on June 5 that his administration is studying direct equity stakes in top artificial‑intelligence firms – OpenAI, Anthropic and Elon Musk’s xAI – with the aim of giving taxpayers a share of future profits. Meetings with the companies are slated for the week of June 8. The proposal follows a precedent set earlier this year when the government turned $8.9 billion of CHIPS Act grants into a roughly 10 % ownership position in Intel.

Lawmakers and scholars have outlined three possible mechanisms: a 50 % stock‑tax on the firms that would create a sovereign‑wealth fund (as championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders); a more modest equity‑for‑funding model similar to the Intel deal that would reward government support for AI infrastructure; and a voluntary donation model proposed by OpenAI, likened to Alaska’s Permanent Fund. Market reaction to the announcement was positive, with tech stocks rising.