Trump Officials Split on How to Structure AI Company Equity Stakes
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick have floated competing approaches as the administration weighs government ownership in major AI firms.
Senior officials in the Trump administration are debating how the government would structure potential equity stakes in major AI companies, though no decisions have been made and the concept faces significant industry resistance.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has advocated for using equity in AI firms to seed Trump Accounts—individual capital accounts for Americans. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick prefers directing any equity to a sovereign wealth fund structure, according to people familiar with the discussions reported by Semafor.
Why it matters
The internal debate reveals how seriously the Trump administration is considering government ownership in AI companies, even as most of the industry opposes the idea. The outcome could set precedent for how the U.S. government captures value from strategic technology sectors, though execution faces major legal, financial, and political hurdles that make implementation unlikely.
Industry resistance remains strong
Beyond OpenAI, which first pitched the equity concept last year, most AI companies have shown little enthusiasm. Executives at Microsoft and Meta have rejected the idea in recent weeks. One AI lobbyist told Semafor that even companies paying lip service to the proposal would likely never follow through.
"You do a little bit of a pressure test based on circumstance or whatever and you see that it all falls apart," the lobbyist said.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) called the proposal a "head-scratcher," while Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) expressed distrust of AI company leaders at a recent Senate Banking Committee hearing.
Export controls complicate the picture
The administration's recent export controls on Anthropic's Mythos model may further complicate equity discussions. President Trump had told reporters he would convene "the top 12 or 15 executives very shortly" to discuss the AI industry "giving back something to the public," but the Anthropic crackdown risks making any such meeting more contentious.
Lutnick has taken point on the Anthropic export controls, with Commerce officials meeting with senior Anthropic executives this week.
Structural challenges abound
Experts question whether the government equity model could work in AI. Unlike Intel, which accepted grants in exchange for stakes, AI companies command much higher valuations—SpaceX's recent IPO success suggests OpenAI and Anthropic could reach $1 trillion valuations.
Many AI firms also reinvest profits rather than paying dividends, raising questions about how a government stake would generate returns for Americans. "My expectation is that we're not going to have dividends in any normal sense for a very long time," said Will Rinehart of the American Enterprise Institute. "So if you're taking some sort of equity share, what does that even mean?"
A sovereign wealth fund would require substantial development work, particularly after administration officials abandoned a broader sovereign wealth fund concept last year due to national debt concerns. Any alternative like a one-time tax would need approval from a skeptical Congress.
Caleb Max, president and CEO of the National Artificial Intelligence Association, argued the industry needs "proper guardrails and federal legislation" rather than government cash infusions.
These details were first reported by Semafor.
This is an original analysis by the Omega editorial team. Source reporting: AI Watch.
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