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Silicon Valley CEOs struggle to respond to Trump’s involvement in their businesses
The Trump administration’s increasingly broad reach into private businesses is causing confusion and anxiety in Silicon Valley, home to many of the companies affected.
Interviews with more than a dozen technology executives over the past week revealed that the Trump administration’s announcements of government stakes in companies such as Intel have had a chilling effect, with executives now filtering many decisions through the prism of how the White House might respond. The executives — among them CEOs, founders and investors — requested anonymity to avoid drawing the ire of the administration.
Some have chosen to embrace the administration, hoping to deflect potential criticism from the president. Others are keeping their heads down and staying silent to avoid unwanted attention.
In one case, a tech executive turned down a dinner invitation to the White House earlier this month — and sent a deputy instead.
“I felt it’s better for me to not spend time in the Trump White House,” he said. “The political climate has made it increasingly difficult for technology companies, or any kind of company, to avoid kissing the ring.”
The executive also recounted approaching another tech CEO to sign onto an initiative encouraging all students to learn about artificial intelligence. The CEO agreed — as long as they got support from the Trump administration.
“His knee-jerk reaction was ‘even if it’s something good, I don’t want to make a statement for it, just in case it’s going to piss off the administration,’” said the executive.
Over the past few months, the administration has injected itself into corporate America in extraordinary ways. The Pentagon recently became the largest shareholder in the nation’s only rare-earths mine. This spring, Japan-based Nippon Steel finalized a deal to buy U.S. Steel after agreeing to give the U.S. government a so-called golden share — making it a stockholder in the company.
Many of the administration’s interventions in businesses have targeted Silicon Valley, unnerving executives there. The tech industry plays an outsized role in the stock market and broader economy. The seven biggest tech stocks alone make up more than a third of the S&P 500.
Last month, the administration struck a deal with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang that would allow the company to sell its H20 chips to China under the condition that the government receive a 15 percent cut of its sales. It made a similar deal with semiconductor giant AMD.
Most notably, the White House and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan announced in August that the government would take a 10 percent stake in the company. After Trump said Tan had too much exposure to China and called for his firing, the executive went to Washington to try to appease the president and signed off on the government’s acquisition.
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