OpenAI proposes 5% U.S. government stake worth ~$43B to ease Washington pressure

OpenAI has proposed ceding a 5% equity stake to the U.S. government as a strategy to address political pressure in Washington, according to the Financial Times. At OpenAI's recent $852 billion post-money valuation (March 2026 funding round), the stake would be worth approximately $42.6 billion. CEO Sam Altman reportedly argued that offering the public a financial interest in the company is the best way to share the upside of AI with Americans.

The proposal is framed as aligning incentives between private AI development and national interests. Altman suggested this stake size in early conversations with the Trump administration, though it remains unclear whether the administration intends to pursue it. The concept parallels the U.S. government's $8.9 billion investment in Intel (10% stake), which President Trump said last May he should have made larger.

For investors and operators, this signals a new potential precedent for public-sector participation in frontier AI companies—whether through equity, revenue-sharing, or strategic partnerships. A U.S.-backed stake could reshape OpenAI's governance, cap table priority, and regulatory relationship, while simultaneously setting expectations for Anthropic, Google, and other labs on concessions to government interests.