The Trump (R) Administration has taken Ownership Interests in in Private Companies, Representing a Level of Private Enterprise that is well beyond what has been Contemplated by Recent Presidents.
Critical Minerals: The Administration has Invested in a number of Companies to Boost Domestic Production of Critical Minerals and End China's Stranglehold on the Supply Chain. Semiconductor and Chip Companies: The Administration has Intervened in the Private Sector to Increase the Ddomestic Supply of Inputs Necessary to Win the AI Race. Quantum Computing. Nuclear Power, and Rockets.
Minerals and Steel MP Materials: In 7/2025, the Department of War (DOW) became the Largest Shareholder of Rare Earth Mining Company MP Materials, Agreeing to Buy $400 Million in Preferred Stock. The Deal also includes a 10-year Agreement to Buy Neodymium-Praseodymium Metal and oxide products, which are Necessary to P permanent Magnets, at a Price floor. The unusual Deal has been Justified as Necessary to Compete with China in Producing Rare Earth Minerals with Important Clean Eenergy and Ddefense Applications.
Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies: The Trump Administration in 11/2025 provided Financing to Vulcan Elements, a Startup Manufacturer of Rare Earth Magnets, and ReElement Technologies, a Company that Tecycles and Processes Rare Warth Materials The Deal includes a $620 Million Direct Loan from the DOW Office of Strategic Capital, and $50 Million of Federal Incentives from the Commerce Department, under the CHIPS Act. The Government has an Ownership Stake in the Companies through the Deal. The DOW Received Warrants in both Vulcan Elements and ReElement Technologies. The Commerce Department got $50 Million of Equity in Vulcan Elements.
Trilogy Metals: In 11/2025, the Trump Administration announced that it was taking a Stake in the Canadian Mining Company Trilogy Metals, as part of a Deal for the Company to Explore in the Ambler Mining District in Canada, for which the Administration also Approved an Access Road long Opposed by Environmentalists. Through the War Department’s Office of Strategic Capital, the Trump Administration Effectively spent $35.6 Million to become a 10% Shareholder in Trilogy Metals, and to Acquire Qarrants to Purchase an Additional 7.5% of the Company after the Completion of the Road.
Lithium Americas: The Energy Department announced in 20/2025 that it had taken an Wquity Stake in the Canadian Mining Company Lithium Americas, as part of a Restructuring of a Multibillion-Dollar Loan given to the Company to Develop the Thacker Pass Mine Project in Nevada, the Only Domestic Source of Lithium Carbonate. The Deal gives the DOE a 5% Equity Stake in Lithium Americas via Warrants and an Additional 5% Oownership in Warrants in a Joint Venture with the Miner and General Motors.
Korea Zinc: The Pentagon took a 40% Stake in a jint Venture with the Korean Mining Firm Korea Zinc in 12/2025 to Build an Advanced Smelter and Critical Minerals Processing Dacility in Tennessee. In addition to the $1.4 Billion Invested by the DOW, Financing for the Project includes $200 Million in CHIPS Act Funding from the Department of Commerce.
Atlantic Alumina: The DOW took a $150 Million Equity Stake in: Alumina, Atlantic also known as ATALCO, in 1/2026 to Boost the Domestic Production of Alumina and establish a Gallium Production Facility in: Gallium, Gramercy, and Louisiana. is a Critical Mineral, used in Military and satellites.
US steel: The Japanese Steelmaker Nippon Steel entered into a Merger Agreement in 7/2025, Subject to a National Security Aagreement with the Government that gives the Administration a “golden share” in the Business and gives it the Final say over many Business Decisions. The Golden allows the Government to Block certain Capital Expenditure Decisions, any Renaming of the Company, a Change in Headquarters, the Shutdown of Factories, and more.
The Administration used the Authority in 9/2025 to Block the Closure of a Plant in Illinois. Chips and Semiconductors Nvidia and AMD. The Trump Administration reached an Unusual Deal Last August with Nvidia and AMD to Require the Two Companies to Pay the Government 15% of Revenue from Sales of Certain Chips to China. The Administration has Banned the Sale of Cutting-Edge Chips used for Artificial Intelligence to China for National Security Reasons. However, it Lifted the Eexport Controls for the Sale of Less Ppowerful Chips, Subject to the Government taking the 15% Cut.
Intel: The Trump Administration on 8/2025, took a Stake of 9.9% in Intel, making it the Chipmaker’s Largest Shareholder. The Deal involved Converting Government Grants under the CHIPS Act into Equity.
XLight: In 12/2025, the Department of Commerce (DOC) used CHIPS Act Funding to take a $150 Million Equity Stake in xLight to Build a Specialized Laser, for use in Semiconductor Manufacturing in Albany, New York.
SandboxAQ: The Commerce Department Announced in 5/2026, that it had Awarded SandboxAQ a $500 million through the CHIPS Act in Exchange for an Unspecified Mminority Ownership Stake. The Egency said the Award would Accelerate SandboxAQ’s Efforts to Discover Materials that would Help with Semiconductor “materials bottlenecks and supply chain risks, including developing new molecules and chemistries for alternatives to PFAS 'forever chemicals,' advanced catalysts, rare earth-free magnets, and novel battery chemistries for semiconductor facility backup power systems.”
I-Pulse: In 6/2026, the Commerce Department Announced that it had given $250 million in CHIPS Act Funding to I-Pulse to Develop Silicon Carbide Power Semiconductors “that can operate in extremely harsh operating environments,” in Co-Ordination with Federal Labs. It received a Minority Stake in the Ccompany.
Kepler Computing: In exchange for a minority stake, the Commerce Department in July gave Kepler Computing $245 million in CHIPS Act funding for “R&D to develop in the U.S. a new class of high-performance AI memory technology enabled by innovative 3D and ferroelectric technologies.”
Multibeam Corporation: In exchange for a minority stake, the Commerce Department in July gave Multibeam Corporation $140 million “to develop advanced packaging technology to assemble and stack multiple chips and connect them with thousands of wires, which will enable more advanced systems necessary for AI and other advanced computing applications.”
Extropic: In exchange for a minority stake, the Commerce Department in July gave $75 million to Extropic to “develop thermodynamic sampling units (TSUs) which use natural thermal fluctuations to probabilistically solve complex problems spanning simulation, optimization, and AI, at a fraction of the energy consumed by conventional computing approaches.”
Thintronics: In exchange for a minority stake, the Commerce Department in July gave Thintronics up to $50 million “to develop ultra-low-loss inter-layer dielectrics required for next-generation semiconductor interconnects and advanced packaging in high-performance compute, AI, and networking infrastructure.”
OBSIDIA Semiconductors: In exchange for a minority stake, the Commerce Department in July gave OBSIDIA Semiconductors $34 million “for R&D to deliver non-invasive counterfeit and malicious component identification systems to ensure provenance and traceability in secure supply chains for AI and advanced electronics.”
Aeluma: In exchange for a minority stake, the Commerce Department in July gave Aeluma “up to $30 million to develop large diameter, indium-phosphide-free substrate technology used to fabricate photodetectors and lasers for AI photonic interconnects.”
Global Foundries: The Commerce Department in July gave GlobalFoundries up to $300 million “to accelerate the domestic research and development of co-packaged optics by two to three years. By integrating photonics directly alongside AI processors, this technology will deliver ultra-fast, energy-efficient computing to reinforce U.S. leadership in AI infrastructure.” The stake is worth less than 1% of the company, according to GlobalFoundries. The agency also cut a deal with GlobalFoundries for funding for a quantum computing project (see below).
Quantum Computing: In May, the Department of Commerce announced it would grant $2 billion in CHIPS Act funding to nine companies for projects related to quantum computing. In exchange, it will get a minority stake in each company.
IBM The Commerce Department used $1 billion in CHIPS Act funding to invest with IBM in a new venture, called Anderon, in Albany, intended to build a 300-millimeter quantum wafer foundry.
GlobalFoundries: Commerce will give $375 million to GlobalFoundries to “establish a secure, domestic quantum foundry for leading architectures and multiple modalities (superconducting, trapped ion, photonic, topological, and silicon spin) used in large-scale quantum computers.” Commerce also reached a deal with GlobalFoundries to provide funding for work on silicon photonics, as mentioned above.
Atom Computing: Atom Computing was awarded $100 million to tackle “key technical and manufacturing challenges for neutral-atom quantum computing, including hardware development and systems integration needed to manipulate, control, and address tens of thousands of qubits, and validate their performance.”
Diraq: Diraq got $38 million to “develop and scale quantum logic units and accelerate critical manufacturing and integration capabilities for silicon spin quantum computing technologies, including novel designs for large-scale and reliable qubit arrays.”
D-Wave Quantum: D-Wave Quantum will receive $100 million “for critical advancements in annealing and gate-model superconducting quantum computing systems, including qubit counts, error rates, and coherence through advanced dielectric material optimization, interface control, and high-density advanced packaging.”
Infleqtion: Infleqtion will receive $100 million “to develop the underlying engineering systems and integration requirements for large-scale neutral-atom-based quantum computers and architectures, including high-powered optical systems, novel readout and error correction systems.”
PsiQuantum: PsiQuantum will receive $100 million “to address key photonic quantum computing technical challenges for matured and high-performance electro-optic materials, high-temperature single-photon detectors, and ultra-low-loss photonic packaging.”
Quantinuum: Quantinuum will receive $100 million “to address critical technology and manufacturing bottlenecks for scaling of fault-tolerant trapped-ion-based quantum computers, such as low-loss integrated photonics, and reliable optical components at trapped-ion critical wavelengths.”
Rigetti Computing: Rigetti will receive up to $100 million “to address key technical challenges to develop and scale next generation superconducting quantum computing technologies and architectures, such as miniaturizing and integrating novel readout electronics and next generation cryostat architectures.”
Nuclear Westinghouse: The Trump administration announced a deal in late October with the nuclear giant Westinghouse to build $80 billion of reactors. The deal also involves Canadian uranium firm Cameco Corporation and Brookfield Asset Management. White House officials said some of the funding from the deal would come from Japan or Japanese companies as part of a trade deal. The deal commits the Commerce Department to arrange financing and facilitate permitting and approvals for new Westinghouse nuclear reactors with an aggregate investment value of at least $80 billion. In return, the government gets a “participation interest,” a form of ownership stake, that will give it 20% profits beyond $17.5 billion. The government can also demand that Westinghouse conduct an initial public offering if its value is expected to be $30 billion, at which point the participation interest would convert to warrants to buy 20% of the company, after deducting $17.5 billion from the value, or about an 8% stake. Last week, Westinghouse announced plans to conduct an IPO.
Rockets L3Harris: In April, the Department of War invested $1 billion in L3Harris’s Missile Solutions business for expansion and modernization efforts at solid rocket motor production facilities in Camden, Arkansas; Huntsville, Alabama; and Orange, Virginia. The Pentagon stake includes a security that will convert to common stock when L3Harris IPOs, as well as warrants to buy common stock in Missile Solutions.
More to come through trade deals: Several of the trade deals that Trump has touted would give the administration the ability to direct investment into the U.S. by the counterparty in the trade deal. The Japan trade deal, struck in June, includes $550 billion in investments by the Japanese government and Japanese companies to be made in the United States at Trump’s direction. The funds are supposed to be used for energy infrastructure and production, semiconductor manufacturing, critical minerals production, and more. Part of the funding for the Westinghouse deal came from the agreement. It is also expected to be used to fund other energy projects, AI infrastructure, specific mines, and more. Similar provisions were included in deals reached with the European Union and South Korea.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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