Tech Oligarchs and Nationalist AI Projects Redefine Global Power in 2025

In 2025, Donald Trump launched the Stargate AI project with tech leaders Sam Altman of OpenAI, Larry Ellison of Oracle, and Masayoshi Son of SoftBank, aiming to reindustrialize the U.S. for national security. Funded partly by Abu Dhabi's MGX, chaired by Tahnoun bin Zayed, the $500 billion consortium includes Nvidia, Arm, and Microsoft, headquartered in Austin, Texas, with ten data centers under construction. Tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Alex Karp of Palantir have aligned with Trump's administration, advocating for U.S.-centric policies and defense-tech collaborations. Surveillance technology investments, including those by In-Q-Tel, have fueled companies like Palantir, which now serves governments in Britain and Israel. Since October 2023, figures such as Peter Thiel and Bill Ackman have supported Israel, with Oracle, Google, and Microsoft providing platforms used by the Israeli military. The U.S. stock market surge, driven by AI spending, contrasts with slower growth in the EU, UK, China, and Japan due to regulatory and public skepticism. China's state control, exemplified by the halted Ant Group IPO in 2020, shows differing approaches to tech expansion. This intertwining of capital, nationalism, and borders highlights a shift in global tech dynamics, with physical infrastructure and export restrictions reinforcing state-backed growth.