What will Trump 2.0 mean for US tech?

Elon Musk campaigned for Donald Trump and stands to reap the benefits of being close to the president-elect – Copyright AFP/File Jim WATSON

Alex PIGMAN

What will Donald Trump’s second stint in the White House mean for a US tech industry in the throes of an artificial intelligence frenzy?

For sure Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, will play a central role in Trump’s Silicon Valley policies after backing the Republican’s presidential campaign.

“A star is born: Elon!” Trump said in a lengthy shoutout to the Tesla and SpaceX boss during his victory speech after Tuesday’s election.

Musk is slated to take a significant role in the White House, where he will likely have influence over the regulation of tech, including in matters related to his companies Tesla, SpaceX and the X platform (formerly Twitter).

At Musk’s side, will likely be a group of tech “accelerationists”, members of Silicon Valley’s more libertarian right-wing, who want innovation to thrive unfettered by the government. 

Unlike their early caution during Trump’s first term, tech titans were swift to laud the president-elect on his victory.

“Big congratulations to our 45th and now 47th President on an extraordinary political comeback and decisive victory,” wrote Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on X.

Bezos had already signaled his shifting position by directing The Washington Post, which he owns, to refrain from endorsing Kamala Harris — a move widely interpreted as an attempt to avoid potential friction with a returning Trump administration.

Apple boss Tim Cook sent his congratulations, as did Mark Cuban, a tech billionaire backer of Harris, who said Trump won the election “fair and square.”

Meta supremo Mark Zuckerberg congratulated Trump too and has spent the past months, carefully trying to rebuild a relationship with the president-elect, who often singles out the Facebook founder for his vitriol.

Policy-wise the tech titans will be united in wanting to see the departure of Lina Khan, the head of the Federal Trade Commission, who has pursued a policy of slowing the unrestricted spread of their tech empires.

An early target of Trump’s attention could be the executive order from President Joe Biden on regulating artificial intelligence.

The order sets voluntary standards for AI safety, emphasizing privacy protection, fighting bias and offers guidelines on how AI can be deployed by the government.

It also established the US AI Safety Institute (AISI), a body to study risks in AI systems. 

The order could be overhauled or rubbished, with Trump sympathetic to arguments that innovation should not be constrained by rules.

– Crypto craze –

Trump will almost certainly make it easier for cryptocurrencies to thrive after tech moguls closely linked to the industry donated generously to his campaign.

Crypto markets surged higher after his win, with bitcoin hitting a new all-time-high above $75,000.

During his presidency Trump referred to cryptocurrencies as a scam, but has since radically changed his position, even launching his own crypto product.

He will try to remove Gary Gensler, the crypto-skeptic head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, who has become a loathed bogeyman for the sector.

The troubled fate of TikTok could change, with Trump having voiced opposition to a Biden-backed law, ordering that the popular app divest from Bytedance, its Chinese owner.

TikTok has until January to find a buyer or face the ban, but Trump opposes it, saying it would only boost Instagram and Facebook, which he believes treat him unfairly.

Trump has also expressed intentions to dismantle the CHIPS Act, replacing Biden’s manufacturing subsidies with aggressive tariffs designed to force companies to build in the US. 

Industry analyst Jack Gold cautioned against this approach, noting that “tariffs alone will not work to bring back US chip production…. Tariffs are a penalty, while the CHIPS act is an incentive.”

A looming trade war with China also looms. 

The share price in Apple didn’t see the share price jumps seen on Wall Street more broadly after the Trump win with questions over its dependence on Chinese factories to build iPhones.