The U.S. government's equity portfolio could be expanding again, this time with a potential 5% stake in Sam Altman's OpenAI at an $852 billion valuation, according to a new report. The proposed stake would mark another step toward taking direct financial positions in tech giants. For OpenAI, buy-in from the Trump administration could ease mounting political pressure ahead of an IPO.

The Financial Times reports that Altman has floated giving the U.S. government a 5% stake in OpenAI, modeled after the Alaska Permanent Fund, a state-owned sovereign wealth fund created to invest a portion of Alaska's oil revenue for the long-term benefit of Alaskans.

The FT noted that the proposal would spur other tech giants, including Anthropic, Google, and Meta, to follow suit by handing over stakes to the federal government.

The discussions remain early and "conceptual," and any arrangement could require congressional approval, the report said, adding that the idea stems from mounting pressure in the Trump administration over AI's impact on jobs and the localized blowback against data center buildouts nationwide.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk's xAI Memphis rolled out a 'data center dividend' for the surrounding community, offering free Starlink kits and half-price service to quell any dissent against AI. This move suggests that data center operators nationwide may offer other forms of dividends in the future to appease surrounding communities.

Back to the FT report, Altman has reportedly discussed public ownership with Trump, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, a crazed socialist, has argued for the public stake in AI companies to exceed 50%. The socialist and far-left lawmakers who make up the Democratic Socialists of America have even signaled a questionable data center moratorium - a move that would only cede compute power to China.

In recent months, Altman's chatbot company proposed a "public wealth fund" that "provides every citizen — including those not invested in financial markets — with a stake in AI-driven economic growth."

"The goal is not only to support people through economic change after decisions have already been made, but to give them a stake and a voice in shaping how that change unfolds," OpenAI said in a blog post.

The talks come after the Trump administration took a 10% stake in Intel, 15% in MP Materials, and ...

For OpenAI, a government stake could ease tensions with the Trump administration ahead of an IPO (delayed until 2027), while offering a political answer to concerns that AI is financially wrecking low-income folks.

Meanwhile, The Information's earlier report that Nvidia has been renting back its own compute capacity from neocloud providers raises one obvious question...

... is there really enough end-user compute demand to absorb the AI buildout?