In 2025, Big Tech got almost everything it wanted from President Trump, as he backs policies that let the industry grow unfettered, worrying some conservatives
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/ technology/tech-trump.html @terigoodson : “The conservative party stands for the free market and not picking winners and losers, yet what we've seen so far in the Trump administration is an administration that has picked the tech industry to win in ways that is contrary to his own base.” — Gee, you don't say. — www.nytimes.com/2025/12/28/t... Forums: r/politics : From A.I. to Chips, Big Tech Is Getting What It Wants From Trump r/technology : From A.I. to Chips, Big Tech Is Getting What It Wants From the U.S. President Ars OpenForum : Big Tech basically took Trump's unpredictable trade war lying down
Context & Ripple Effects
The administration’s technology agenda had already moved from outreach to implementation: reporting in September described a White House courtship of Big Tech tied to faster AI adoption, while a July review tracked companies’ interests across executive access, contracts, antitrust and tariffs.
The late-year account of changes that eased MAGA resistance to an AI executive order makes the broader alignment consequential: internal political opposition was managed rather than allowed to set the policy boundary.
First-order effects
- Large technology companies gain a more permissive federal operating environment across the AI-to-chips agenda, reducing the near-term policy friction around expansion.
- Conservatives who see preferential treatment as inconsistent with free-market principles face a sharper conflict with an administration they otherwise support.
Second-order effects
- Smaller technology firms and would-be challengers may have to compete in markets where incumbents have stronger access to federal policy, procurement and strategic priorities.
- The political bargain increases pressure on AI-policy critics to pursue their objections through Congress, state governments or party organizing rather than expecting federal executive restraint.
Third-order effects
- If sustained, this points to a form of technology policy shaped across contracts, antitrust and trade, where government support and strategic priorities matter alongside conventional market competition.
- The durable fault line may be within the right rather than between parties: pro-growth technology policy can remain politically vulnerable when it is perceived as favoring entrenched firms over neutral market rules.
The trend: This is one data point in the shift toward state-mediated technology growth, in which AI and semiconductor priorities deepen the policy importance of large incumbent platforms.