Welcome back to Congress—we hope you had a restorative summer recess. As the fall session kicks off, the technology policy landscape is shifting rapidly in Washington and beyond. From President Trump’s surprise deal giving the U.S. a 10% stake in Intel, to Silicon Valley’s $100 million push to shape AI regulation, to bipartisan consensus points on federal AI oversight, the debates over innovation and governance are only intensifying. At the same time, courts are forcing Google to share its search data, Abu Dhabi is courting U.S. tech giants for the world’s largest AI campus, and experts remain divided on AI’s real impact on jobs. On Capitol Hill, attention turns skyward, as lawmakers examine NASA’s role in countering China’s growing ambitions in space.

In this week’s Nimitz Tech:

• AI: Biden and Trump may clash on AI—but they quietly agree on five core rules for federal use.

• Anti-Trust: A judge just ruled Google must hand over its search data to rivals—shaking up the future of online competition.

• Middle East: Abu Dhabi’s G42 is building the world’s biggest AI campus—and it doesn’t want to rely on Nvidia alone.

WHO’S HAVING EVENTS THIS WEEK?

September 3, 2025

Senate Commerce: “Hearings to examine why Congress and NASA must thwart China in the space race.” at 10am. Watch here.

TECH NEWS DRIVING THE WEEK

In Washington

• President Trump announced that Intel has agreed to give the U.S. government a 10 percent stake in the company, a deal he claimed cost taxpayers nothing and is now worth about $11 billion. The move follows concerns about Intel’s leadership ties to China and aims to strengthen domestic chipmaking capacity, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick stressing the need to reduce reliance on Taiwan for semiconductors. The agreement has drawn mixed reactions in Congress: Sen. Bernie Sanders praised it as ensuring taxpayers a return on federal investment, while Sen. Rand Paul denounced it as a “step toward socialism.” The deal comes as the administration considers pulling from CHIPS Act funds to bolster U.S. semiconductor independence.

• Silicon Valley leaders are pouring more than $100 million into Leading the Future, a new super-PAC network designed to influence AI policy and fend off strict regulations ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Backed by venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, OpenAI president Greg Brockman, and other major tech investors, the group aims to fund candidates, run digital ads, and counter efforts to slow AI development in favor of establishing industry-friendly guardrails. Modeled after the crypto-focused PAC Fairshake, the network will support both parties while targeting battleground states like New York, California, Illinois, and Ohio. Its emergence underscores growing tensions in Washington over regulating AI, with proponents warning that overly restrictive laws could undercut U.S. innovation and advantage China.

• Despite sharp ideological divides, both the Trump and Biden administrations have shown rare bipartisan alignment on regulating federal use of artificial intelligence, agreeing on five key safeguards: identifying and regulating high-impact AI systems, establishing governance and reporting structures, prohibiting deployment without protections, requiring specific minimum practices, and ensuring public transparency. These measures have already produced inventories of thousands of government AI use cases and set baseline protections around testing, monitoring, and oversight. However, disagreements remain over equity protections—where Biden pushed for proactive anti-bias measures while Trump narrowed requirements to unlawful discrimination—and over whether individuals should be notified when AI systems affect them. Together, the continuity and conflict highlight both a foundation for bipartisan cooperation and enduring partisan rifts in shaping the future of AI regulation.

National

• A federal judge has ordered Google to share search data with competitors to boost market competition, marking a major blow in the Justice Department’s long-running antitrust case against the tech giant. While Judge Amit Mehta stopped short of forcing Google to sell off its Chrome browser or Android operating system, he also barred the company from entering exclusive agreements that block rival apps on devices. The ruling follows last year’s finding that Google illegally monopolized online search and advertising, though Google has vowed to appeal, which could delay changes for years. The case is part of a broader bipartisan crackdown on Big Tech, with Google also facing lawsuits over its app store and online advertising dominance.

• Business leaders and economists remain divided over how artificial intelligence will reshape the job market, with some predicting sweeping layoffs and others emphasizing slower, more task-based changes. Executives like Anthropic’s Dario Amodei and Amazon’s Andy Jassy have warned of major workforce reductions, while OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang argue new opportunities will offset losses. Yet labor market data shows little evidence so far of AI-driven disruption, with unemployment trends largely unaffected even among the most AI-exposed professions. Experts caution that while AI adoption may eventually transform work, the transition will be gradual, shaped by how firms integrate the technology and broader economic forces that redistribute labor.

International

• Abu Dhabi’s AI giant G42 is negotiating with U.S. tech firms including Google, Microsoft, AWS, Meta, and Elon Musk’s xAI to anchor its massive UAE–US AI Campus, while also exploring chip supply options beyond Nvidia. The $5-gigawatt campus, billed as the largest AI infrastructure project outside the U.S., will serve as a regional hub for hyperscalers and potentially host “digital embassies” to store foreign governments’ data securely and at lower cost. While OpenAI, MGX, SoftBank, and Oracle have already committed one gigawatt to a Stargate data center powered by Nvidia’s latest chips, G42 is in talks with AMD, Cerebras, and Qualcomm to diversify its supply. The project, set to begin rollout in 2026, underscores Abu Dhabi’s ambitions to position itself as a global AI powerhouse and a strategic data hub for billions of people across three continents.

FOR FUN

• 🪷 Lily & Lotus Wonder Wander at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens (9/4)

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