America’s president Donald Trump has been busy using taxpayer money to buy ownership of public companies in very bizarre deals.
Over the past year, Cryptopolitan has diligently reported that the US government has taken actual equity or governance stakes in at least 10 different businesses, mostly tied to minerals, chips, energy, and defense.
These investments are going into startups, mining projects, semiconductor makers, and even a nuclear reactor developer. Some deals give the government voting rights. Others don’t. But in every case, taxpayer money is buying a piece of the company.
Scott Lincicome from the Cato Institute said this kind of government buying spree hasn’t been seen outside of wartime. Howard, the Commerce Secretary, said more of this is coming. He even named Lockheed Martin as a possible target.
Steel, rare earths, and semiconductors now have government money in them
Let’s start with U.S. Steel. Trump only approved the company’s sale to Nippon Steel after getting a special power called a golden share. It doesn’t bring any profit, but it lets the president block decisions to shut plants, sell assets, or move the headquarters out of Pittsburgh.
U.S. Steel stopped trading in June 2025 and now operates as a Nippon subsidiary. Then there’s Intel. In August 2025, the Commerce Department bought 433.3 million shares, or 10% of Intel, using $8.9 billion pulled from CHIPS Act funds and other grants. The shares are non-voting. Howard said the goal wasn’t control, but financial support.
The Defense Department also went deep into rare earths. It invested in MP Materials, a company with a mine in Mountain Pass, California. The Pentagon bought $400 million in preferred stock and got a warrant that could give it 15% of the company. MP said that would make the government its largest shareholder.
On the lithium front, the Department of Energy took a 5% stake in Lithium Americas, plus 5% in its joint project with GM. In return, it delayed $182 million in payments on a $2.3 billion loan. One Trump official allegedly told CNBC this structure gives taxpayers protection “if things go south.” The company’s listed in Canada and the U.S.
Even startups with no revenue are getting millions from Washington
Trilogy Metals, also based in Canada, has no revenue. It wants to mine copper in Alaska using a long, controversial road called Ambler Road. Trump approved the permits in October 2025. The government then threw in $35.6 million, taking a 10% stake and the right to buy another 7.5%.
USA Rare Earth, which plans to dig rare earths in Texas and build magnets in Oklahoma, got a $1.3 billion loan and $277 million in grants this year. In return, it handed the government 16.1 million shares and 17.6 million in warrants.
Depending on what happens with the warrants, the stake could land between 8% and 16%. CEO Barbara said this was an economic deal only. No government control.
Vulcan Elements, a private company from North Carolina, joined with ReElement Technologies to create a rare earth magnet supply chain. They’re building a 10,000 metric ton factory. The Pentagon gave them $620 million, Commerce gave them $550 million, and they raised the same amount from private investors. The government got a $50 million stake, plus warrants.
Meanwhile, xLight, a chip tool startup from Palo Alto, is working on free-electron lasers. In December, Commerce said it would take a $150 million equity stake if the company accepts federal funding.
Pentagon now owns part of a missile business and could buy into nuclear power
L3Harris, a huge defense company, struck a deal in December 2025 to get $1 billion from the Pentagon for its rocket motor division. The agreement says the division will go public in late 2026, and at that point, the Pentagon’s investment will become common stock in the new company.
The U.S. is also dipping into nuclear energy. The government signed a deal in October 2025 with Cameco and Brookfield to fund Westinghouse, which builds nuclear reactors. The full project is worth $80 billion. If Westinghouse grows past a $30 billion valuation, the government can demand an IPO before 2029 and walk away with 8% ownership, according to Cameco’s COO Grant.
All in, the Trump administration is using taxpayer money to buy into firms across rare earths, semiconductors, lithium, nuclear, and defense. These aren’t donations. They’re ownership deals, plain and simple. And the government now sits inside boardrooms it used to just regulate.
Source: https://www.cryptopolitan.com/trump-turning-taxpayer-dollars-into-stakes/
