OpenAI Reportedly Offers Trump Administration 5% Equity Stake

OpenAI has held discussions about handing the United States government a 5 percent equity stake, according to a Financial Times report published Thursday. The proposal, still unconfirmed by Reuters, would reportedly extend to other American artificial intelligence companies as well, raising immediate questions about precedent, valuation and whether rivals would actually sign on.

What the Financial Times Reported

The Financial Times said the arrangement under discussion would not be limited to OpenAI alone. Other U.S. AI companies would be asked to hand over a comparable stake to the government, the report noted, though it was unclear whether those firms would agree to such terms. Reuters said it could not independently verify the account, and neither OpenAI nor the White House responded to requests for comment sent outside normal business hours.

No financial terms beyond the 5 percent figure have surfaced. There is no public detail yet on what the government would offer in return, whether the stake would carry voting rights, or which agency would hold it. For a company last valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars through recent funding rounds, a 5 percent stake would represent a stake worth tens of billions on paper, though the mechanics of a government equity position in a private AI lab remain undefined.

Why a Government Stake in an AI Lab Raises Eyebrows

Government equity in a technology company of OpenAI's scale would be unusual outside of national security bailouts or defense procurement arrangements. OpenAI has increasingly positioned itself as critical infrastructure, supplying models to federal agencies and courting defense contracts, so a stake could reflect an attempt to formalize that relationship rather than a simple capital injection.

The report's mention that other AI companies might be asked to do the same suggests this could be less about OpenAI specifically and more about a broader policy mechanism the administration is testing, possibly tied to export controls, chip access or federal contracting eligibility. Whether competitors such as Anthropic or Google DeepMind would accept a similar arrangement is an open question the Financial Times itself flagged as unresolved.

The Silence From OpenAI and the White House

Neither party has confirmed or denied the discussions. That silence, on a story with direct implications for how Washington structures its relationship with the AI industry, leaves the report resting entirely on the Financial Times' sourcing for now. Confirmation, denial or additional detail from either OpenAI or the administration would materially change how seriously the market and the industry treat this as a live policy proposal rather than an early, exploratory conversation.