The US Stock Market, A Reflection of the Nation's Fortune, Trump is Transforming the US into a Fund

By 加六, 涨声Beatz

On the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States, Trump is transforming America into a fund.

Last Monday, just a few minutes before the opening of the US stock market, Trump sat in the Oval Office with a camera in front of him. The opening bells of the New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq were received at the White House, and he remotely rang the bells. As the bells rang, he faced the camera and said that these accounts would grow along with our vibrant economy. Just in that week, $800 million in new capital would be invested in the stock market for American children.

This was the first trading day after the launch of the "Trump Account." Two days earlier, on July 4th, the 250th anniversary of the US founding, he gave a birthday gift to all newborns in the country: an investment account named after him with $1,000, automatically invested in US stocks. 6 million children had completed their registration before the launch.

During the same week, his Treasury Department was dealing with another matter: $39 trillion of national debt. By the 2026 fiscal year, the interest alone on this debt would exceed $1 trillion, averaging $1.7 billion per day. Every day, the Treasury Department had to find ways to repay the interest left from the day before.

Over the past 18 months, this real estate mogul-turned-president has done three seemingly unrelated things: the government directly investing in companies, opening investment accounts for newborns, and seeking equity in AI companies. However, they all point to the same goal: deeply linking the US stock market with America's destiny.

The Eagle's $39 Trillion Debt

The starting point of this game was not ambition but anxiety.

As of May 2026, the US national debt had surpassed $39 trillion, nearing $40 trillion. The debt size had exceeded the entire US economy, with the debt-to-GDP ratio at about 123%. The daily addition to the national debt was around $5 billion. The Congressional Budget Office predicted that in the 2026 fiscal year, interest payments alone would exceed $1 trillion, accounting for nearly 14% of total federal expenditures, even surpassing the defense budget. For every $1 the federal government takes in, it has to spend $1.33. Huatai Securities estimated that the deficit for the 2026 fiscal year could reach $22 trillion, driving the deficit rate to 7%.

To address the anxiety over the U.S. national debt, there are three traditional solutions: increase taxes, cut spending, and inflate the debt, which means allowing inflation to erode the real value of the debt.

The first two solutions would be political suicide before the midterm elections, so the Trump administration will definitely not consider them. The third solution would require the Federal Reserve, the U.S. central bank, to cooperate by lowering interest rates. However, former Fed Chair Powell, even when threatened and sued by Trump, never yielded. Chair Wash, in the current economic situation, announcing an interest rate cut would obviously be very awkward.

Therefore, Trump needs to find a new path.

As we all know, Trump has always approached problem-solving based on his lifelong experience in the business world. The way a real estate developer looks at a balance sheet is different from how a politician does: if you can't touch the liability side, then expand the asset side. Looking at the U.S. government's balance sheet, $39 trillion in debt is abundantly clear; however, the asset side is quite blurry, with the federal government hardly holding any financial assets that can be valued at market prices.

Therefore, Trump's solution is to first use the government's existing powers—subsidies, appropriations, government contracts, export controls, regulatory authority—as costs and bargaining chips to acquire low-priced stakes in major corporations.

The first company Trump took advantage of was Intel.

On August 22, 2025, the U.S. government announced that it would acquire 9.9% of Intel, one of the world's largest semiconductor manufacturers, for $8.9 billion, at $20.47 per share, becoming the chip giant's largest single shareholder in one fell swoop. The brilliance of the deal lies in the funding source: $5.7 billion comes from the Semiconductor Subsidy Act of 2022, originally intended for Intel, and $3.2 billion from federal appropriations for the security chip project. In other words, the government did not spend a single new dollar; it offered a "check that was originally to be given away for free" and received a substantial equity stake in return.

Trump himself was very proud and announced on his social media platform Truth Social in all capital letters: "I paid zero dollars for Intel, which is worth about $110 billion, all owned by America."

Later, when discussing this deal at a public event, he mentioned the negotiation process with Intel's CEO, Liwu Chen. Chen, a Malaysian Chinese American, took office as Intel's CEO in March 2025, after serving as CEO of chip design software company Cadence for 12 years. Trump said Intel agreed too readily, stating, "They should have asked for more." Some criticized this approach as shameful, to which his response was, "This is not embarrassing; this is called business." When asked if government ownership in private enterprises would become a norm, his response was, "Isn't that what tariffs are, too?"

Perhaps to commemorate this auspicious start, White House economic adviser Hassett gave this transaction a name: the "sovereign wealth fund's down payment."

A sovereign wealth fund is a government entity that invests public funds as long-term capital. Countries like Singapore and Abu Dhabi have them, usually accumulated through oil or resource revenues, which the United States has never had. In February 2025, Trump signed an executive order requiring Commerce Secretary Luttig and Treasury Secretary Benton to come up with a plan within 90 days to establish such a fund in the U.S. However, due to legal, funding, and political resistance, the grand narrative of the so-called "U.S. sovereign wealth fund" was shelved.

But with this Intel transaction, it seems to signal that the U.S. sovereign fund's shell may not have been "created in name only," but the "bullet still flew out."

The U.S. Government Bought Stakes in at Least 20 Companies for Zero Dollars

Trump's Intel position was quickly validated. Intel's stock price surged over 50% after the transaction closed. By early 2026, the government's holdings had swollen to a paper value of $35 billion to $63 billion. Trump turned a subsidy that was already set to be spent into billions in paper gains.

After following through with the "bold assumption" and "cautious verification," the businessman's next conclusion was about reuse.

After Intel, Trump's pace of orders exceeded everyone's expectations:

The Department of Defense acquired a 15% stake in MP Materials Corp., the only U.S. company with full rare earth mining and processing capabilities, making the DoD its largest shareholder. A startup mining company, American Lithium, in Nevada, without revenue at the time, also gave up 10%, tied to a restructuring of a $2.26 billion federal loan. A Canadian-listed mining company, Trilogy Metals, developing a copper-zinc mine in Alaska, surrendered 10% plus 7.5% of warrants, allowing the government to purchase additional shares at a predetermined price in the future, for a $35.6 million investment. When U.S. Steel was acquired by Japan's Nippon Steel, they handed the White House a veto power "golden share," not an economic stake but political power: the President could veto plant closures, headquarters relocations, or production transfers overseas. L3Harris, a large U.S. defense technology company, traded $1 billion for equity in its rocket engine business, which produces military communication, satellite, and missile systems. NVIDIA and AMD, the two largest chip design companies, had a unique arrangement, offering a 15% share of their chip sales to the U.S. China Rare Earth company. By the end of January 2026, another U.S. rare earth company, USA Rare Earth, had also been added to the list.

According to the Cato Institute, a prominent U.S. libertarian think tank, the current administration has acquired equity, options, or golden shares in over 20 companies.

In May 2026, Trump's strategy took a more massive scale. The government made a one-time announcement to invest $2 billion in 9 quantum computing companies in exchange for equity. IBM received $1 billion, while chip giant Grayscale, along with D-Wave, Rigetti, Infleqtion, and other quantum startups, shared the remaining stake. On the day of the news, the sector soared collectively: Infleqtion surged over 33%, D-Wave rose 33%, Rigetti rose 30%, and even IonQ, not on the list, followed with a 12% increase. Lutenic stated in a release that the Trump administration is leading the world into a new era of American innovation.

On the Prediction Market, traders have begun to focus on "which companies will receive government investment in 2026." Currently, IonQ has a 32% probability, defense AI unicorn Anduril Industries (a defense tech company founded by Oculus VR's Palmer Luckey, focusing on AI-driven military drone systems) at 31%, and Micron (one of the world's largest memory chip manufacturers) at 28%.

Altman Voluntarily Offers $42.6 Billion in Shares

In addition to sectors such as defense, chips, and quantum computing, "White House Stock God" Trump naturally did not miss out on the hottest sector today: AI.

What's most interesting is that this time, OpenAI CEO Altman took the initiative to hand it to Trump himself.

Altman Speaking at the White House/Government Event

According to the U.S. political news website NOTUS and the Financial Times, as early as the beginning of 2025, Altman proposed to Trump the idea of the government holding shares in major AI companies, subsequently discussing this matter regularly with senior government officials. In early June 2026, the negotiations were officially disclosed. The figures were released in early July: OpenAI proposed to sell 5% to the government, valued at approximately $42.6 billion based on the record-breaking financing round of $85.2 billion in March.

Moreover, Altman's full proposal is broader: not just OpenAI, but every top AI company in the U.S. would contribute 5% to a government entity. The list may include Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI core team members and the fastest-growing enterprise AI developer in the market, Claude, as well as Google, Meta (Facebook's parent company), and Musk's AI company, xAI. The revenue model is based on the Alaska Permanent Fund, which is a public fund established by Alaska using oil revenues, distributing dividends to each state resident annually. Altman hopes the AI version will also pay dividends to the public.

Why would a company preparing for one of the largest IPOs in history voluntarily contribute $42.6 billion?

Silicon Valley's renowned investor and one of the hosts of the All-In podcast, Chamath, also touched on this relationship in a recent episode: the economics of AI are entirely different from the internet. In the internet era, adding one more user incurred almost no cost; in the AI era, each additional user requires real GPU, memory, power, and infrastructure. None of these things can be provided by venture capital; they are all controlled by Washington.

This means that an AI company's reliance on national infrastructure is structural, not just a phase. The more you depend on the country's resources, the stronger the country's bargaining power at the negotiation table.

Therefore, the relationship between AI companies and the government is no longer as simple as "startups hoping for less regulation." They cannot do without government resources, and the government is well aware of this. Past negotiations involved subsidies in exchange for building factories, hiring, and paying taxes. Today's negotiations have turned into providing you with computing power, electricity, orders, and policy certainty, so what does the public get in return?

Within the industry, this 5% is referred to as a "regulatory insurance policy." Exchange equity for a lenient environment, preemptively mitigate the risks of nationalization or forced divestiture, and embed Altman's team deeply in the formulation of AI regulatory rules. Intel's precedent is right in front: after the government's shareholding, Nvidia's $5 billion investment, joint construction of a Texas chip factory with Musk, cooperation with Apple, all successively landed, and the stock price soared.

Government shareholders are not a cost but the strongest backing.

Of course, not everyone agrees with Altman. There is one conspicuous absentee on the list, and Anthropic doesn't seem as willing. According to sources, Anthropic has not discussed equity dilution with the government to date.

But for those who don't get insurance, Trump naturally has to knock on the door.

Secretary of Defense Hegseth announced on X that Anthropic would be classified as a "supply chain risk," a label previously reserved for suppliers from foreign hostile forces and never used on a U.S. company before. All defense contractors must provide a written assurance that they will not use Claude. Following this, Trump posted on Truth Social, ordering all federal agencies to "immediately stop" using Anthropic's technology. Anthropic did not back down and filed lawsuits on March 9 simultaneously in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., alleging that the blacklist was unconstitutional retaliation.

Anthropic CEO Amodei at Congressional Hearing

With Intel's template, Quantum Nine's mass replication, and OpenAI's proactive 5% scheme submission, "who the next invested company will be" has become a tangible trading theme on Wall Street. Following the government's stock selection logic, three tiers can be outlined.

The first tier is the advanced AI model companies. This is a group directly mentioned in the Altman plan. In addition to OpenAI itself, there are Anthropic, xAI, Google, and Meta. Google and Meta are publicly traded companies, making government shareholding technically easier, but politically more sensitive. The variable for xAI is Musk himself. His relationship with Trump soured after last year's government budget cut to the DOGE project, leading to a falling out, which was just recently repaired this year. SpaceX completed an $860 billion IPO, with a market cap of $22 trillion. When asked on CNBC if Musk would donate SpaceX stock to Trump's account, Trump replied, "I think he will." A week later, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell announced a donation of one share to accounts of over 2 million children, totaling around $320 million.

The second tier is AI's "ground-based" companies. Analysts point out that if private capital cannot sustain AI's increasingly vast funding needs, the government will next consider targets for shareholding, which are companies providing computing power for AI, as well as complementary energy infrastructure companies. These companies do not have the glamour of model companies, but they are where government resources like land, the power grid, and nuclear power approvals come into play, making them the most natural fit for the "subsidy for equity" logic.

The third tier consists of those that have already closed deals or are on the table. Following Quantum Nine, Prediction Market odds point to IonQ, Anduril, and Micron. Anduril is one of the highest-valued startups in the defense AI field; Micron recently donated $250 million to the Trump account. In this game, donations themselves are a form of bid, sending a clear signal: I'm on your side, take care of me.

When the U.S. Stock Market Becomes a Faith

Looking back at this baby fund.

For infants born in the United States between 2025 and 2028, the Treasury Department automatically deposits $1,000 into their account opened by their parents. This money is mandatorily invested in an S&P 500 index fund, with the default being the State Street's lowest-cost S&P 500 ETF fund, SPYM. Other options include IVV, VTI, SPTM, ITOT, all of which are U.S.-focused large-cap or total market exchange-traded funds, with a maximum annual fee of 0.10%. Families can contribute up to an additional $5,000 per year, deducted from pre-tax income, similar to a pension, with contributions from employers, relatives, and charitable organizations counted separately. The money cannot be withdrawn until the child is 18, at which point the account automatically converts to a traditional U.S. individual retirement account (IRA). The custodianship is managed by BNY Mellon, and the accompanying app is designed with the participation of Robinhood, one of the largest zero-commission brokers in the U.S.

A non-partisan fiscal watchdog group, the "Responsible Federal Budget Committee," estimates that this plan will cost approximately $17 billion by 2028. The government's own estimate claims that $1,000 will grow to at least $6,000 for each child by the age of 18.

The corporate response is more intriguing than the policy itself. The Dell Technologies founders donated $6.25 billion, covering around 25 million children under 10 in low-income zip codes, with each receiving $250. Micron contributed $250 million. Intel and Robinhood matched donations for employees' children. The world's largest asset management company, BlackRock, and Bank of America offered employee donation matching. Then there is the mentioned earlier transfer of over 2 million shares of SpaceX stock by Shotwell. Subsequently, the Treasury Department announced that it would accept large charitable donations in the form of publicly traded company stock.

Trump's account does not directly inject funds into the AI company. What it does is something slower and more profound: cultivating a generation of individuals with a vested interest in the U.S. stock market.

This money may not necessarily change a child's destiny. But from the day of birth, this child is a holder of U.S. assets. Twenty years later, when this child looks at the U.S. stock market, they will not see it as a rich man's casino because their first wealth is in it. When the market rises, their account grows; when the market falls, their own money shrinks.

This will greatly instill faith in a generation in "U.S. growth."

While this is not the beginning of a new story. The assets of American households have long been welded to the U.S. stock market. The U.S. corporate retirement savings plan 401(k) allows employees to automatically deduct a portion of their salary into an investment account each month. Coupled with pensions, mutual funds, and decades of index fund investment trends, a large amount of middle-class families' retirement savings, children's education funds, and home equity have all been tied to the S&P 500. But Trump implanted this belief in every American's heart in advance.

If in the future, Washington can really get 5% of 30 OpenAI-level companies, calculated based on OpenAI's $85.2 billion valuation, this combination would be born with $1.278 trillion. It is already enough to cover one year's interest on the U.S. national debt.

But what if the goal is not to pay interest, but to repay the principal of the debt? The story immediately becomes almost science fiction: these 30 companies would need to collectively increase by another 25 to 31 times. In other words, each one would have to grow from today's OpenAI into a giant economy of over $20 trillion.

In the past, the crazy rise and fall of AI were more about founders, venture capitalists, and Wall Street. Now, he wants to distribute the benefits of the rise more widely. The cost is that if there is really a significant retracement in the future, the volatility may also be more widely transmitted to public finances, household accounts, and political sentiment.

Thus, the U.S. stock market is no longer just a barometer of the U.S. economy; it is the very destiny of the United States itself.

And this should be Trump's most proud deal in his life.

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