Prominent private sector investments mount amid Trump’s return to the White House

The return of President Donald Trump to the White House has raised hopes for a surge of investment in the U.S. economy, with several notable deals already announced in the lead up to Inauguration Day and since his second term began.

The day after Trump began his second term, Trump was joined by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Oracle Executive Chairman and CTO Larry Ellison and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son to announce a collaborative project known as Stargate that will focus on developing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Stargate will be financed with an initial tranche of $100 billion, which could rise to a total of $500 billion over the course of the project.

Earlier this month, DAMAC – an investment and property development company based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates – announced an investment of at least $20 billion in data centers in the U.S. DAMAC founder and chairman Hussain Sajwani said the company has been “waiting for years” to increase its investments in the U.S. and added that it will expand its investment beyond that level if the market opportunity allows for it.

Last month, Softbank’s Son held a press conference with Trump where they revealed a $100 billion investment in the U.S. that aims to create 100,000 jobs in AI and other emerging industries. 

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During the announcement at Mar-a-Lago, Trump jokingly asked if Son would be willing to “make it $200 billion.” Son paused and replied, “I will try to make it happen,” which prompted Trump to say, “Alright, 200,” and left Son laughing as he called Trump “a great negotiator.” 

The influx of investments in the tech sector comes amid the rapid rise of AI and other emerging technologies that will help to shape the world economy in the decades ahead. 

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That momentum has advocates for pro-growth policies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest business trade group, looking to capitalize with regulatory reforms to entice further investment.

“It’s great to see companies looking to make strategic investments within the United States. We look forward to working with the administration to reduce regulatory burdens to spur further investments,” Jordan Crenshaw, senior vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Chamber Technology Engagement Center (CTEC), told FOX Business.

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Jason DeLorenzo, market strategist and founder of the Volland options dealer platform, told FOX Business in an interview that the publicly announced deals along with the visible presence of tech leaders like Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos at Trump’s inauguration show the contrast with Trump’s first term.

“I think Trump himself said, in my first term everybody was fighting me, and now in my second term everybody wants to be friends with me,” DeLorenzo said. “All of a sudden people are trying to align with Trump as opposed to fight him.”

“I do think that countries and businesses are recognizing that Trump has tapped into a sentiment in America that is now the majority sentiment. And in order to survive, I think a lot of these businesses and foreign sovereigns are paying more attention to him,” he explained.

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DeLorenzo noted that with the new deals focused on AI and emerging technologies, as well as tech leaders looking to build closer relationships with Trump than during his first term, he hopes it will precede similar investment announcements in other sectors of the economy as well.

 “I just hope that Trump takes a holistic view of the economy when trying to get these investments in America and not just on the tech side,” he said.