Introduction
The White House just released a document that could reshape American technology for years to come. The National Security Science and Technology Strategy, issued by the Office of Science and Technology Policy on August 17, 2026, is the first of its kind since 1995 . It’s also a clear signal that the U.S. government is moving beyond just funding research—it’s actively investing in the technologies and companies it believes will define the future.
The 24-page strategy organizes American tech policy around four pillars: Focused, Resilient, Agile, and Secure . And it comes at a moment when the government has already taken unprecedented steps to back that vision with real money—billions in quantum computing investments, equity stakes in semiconductor companies, and a new willingness to use federal leverage to shape strategic industries .
Here’s what the strategy says, what the government is actually doing, and why it matters.
The Strategy’s Four Pillars: Focused, Resilient, Agile, Secure
The document, which supports the 2025 National Security Strategy, makes clear that technological advantage is no longer just an economic goal—it’s a national security imperative .
Pillar One: Focused
The “Focused” pillar directs technology competition toward areas where the United States has structural advantages. The strategy establishes a clear hierarchy of priorities :
Top tier (clear technological superiority needed):
- Undersea superiority – submarines and anti-submarine warfare
- Space – from low Earth orbit to cislunar space
- Artificial intelligence and autonomy – here, the strategy calls for “competitive advantage” rather than decisive superiority, reflecting how fast the AI race is moving
Second tier (other critical areas):
- Airpower (stealth, electronic warfare, air defense)
- Long-range strike
- C5ISR (command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance)
Third tier (key enabling technologies):
- Advanced manufacturing
- Hypersonics
- Nuclear energy
- Semiconductors
The strategy also calls for a “high-low mix”—combining a small number of high-end platforms with larger numbers of lower-cost, autonomous systems to create asymmetric costs for adversaries .
Pillar Two: Resilient
The “Resilient” pillar aims to reduce vulnerabilities in critical technology supply chains . This is where the CHIPS Act and rare earth investments fit in. The strategy emphasizes reducing dependence on foreign-controlled supply chains and ensuring that critical technologies can be produced domestically .
Pillar Three: Agile
The “Agile” pillar calls for faster innovation by reducing unnecessary administrative and regulatory hurdles, expanding public-private partnerships, and reforming defense acquisition processes to shorten development cycles .
Pillar Four: Secure
The “Secure” pillar focuses on preventing foreign adversaries, particularly China, from exploiting U.S. intellectual property and emerging technologies. It calls for strengthened research security, modernized foreign investment screening, and streamlined export controls .
What’s Notable (and What’s Missing)
The strategy names 15 critical technology areas, including AI, quantum information, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, and space technologies . Notably, open-weight AI models are not specifically mentioned on the critical list—though the document notes that the lists are “not meant to be comprehensive,” and a separate AI plan is still to come .
The strategy also marks a shift on talent. It states that the U.S. “will further strengthen its workforce by attracting and retaining top-tier global talent in critical national security S&T fields” . This is a departure from the previous National Security Strategy, which suggested that global talent “undercuts American workers.”
The Government’s Quantum Gambit: $2 Billion and Nine Equity Stakes
The strategy isn’t just words. In May 2026, the Commerce Department announced it would provide $2.013 billion in federal incentives to nine quantum computing companies—the largest single investment in quantum technology in American history .
The recipients and their awards include :
| Company | Award Amount |
|---|---|
| IBM (Anderon) | $1.0 billion |
| GlobalFoundries | $375 million |
| Atom Computing | ~$100 million |
| D-Wave | ~$100 million |
| Infleqtion | ~$100 million |
| PsiQuantum | ~$100 million |
| Quantinuum | ~$100 million |
| Rigetti | ~$100 million |
| Diraq | ~$38 million |
IBM is establishing Anderon, a standalone quantum chip foundry in Albany, New York—America’s first dedicated quantum chip manufacturing facility . IBM is contributing an additional $1 billion in cash and intellectual property, bringing the total investment to $2 billion. The goal: deliver the world’s first large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer by 2029 .
GlobalFoundries is launching a new business called Quantum Technology Solutions focused on scaling manufacturing for quantum computing hardware. The government is taking a roughly 1% equity stake in GlobalFoundries as part of the deal .
Equity Stakes: The New Normal
Here’s what makes these deals different from traditional government funding: the Commerce Department is receiving minority, non-controlling equity stakes in each company . This approach, which the administration calls the “Investment Fund Path,” contrasts with the Biden-era approach of handing out grants without equity requirements .
The government has taken stakes in roughly 30 companies across semiconductors, quantum computing, steel, nuclear energy, and rare earth minerals . The most prominent example is Intel. In August 2025, the government acquired a 9.9% stake in the company (433.3 million shares) in exchange for $8.9 billion in federal subsidies, instantly becoming Intel’s largest single shareholder .
The $874 Million AI Computing Investment
In July 2026, the Commerce Department signed letters of intent with seven companies for $874 million in semiconductor R&D funding, again with equity stakes attached .
The largest investments target three critical AI bottlenecks :
1. GlobalFoundries – Up to $300 million for co-packaged optics
This is the largest individual award. The funding aims to advance silicon photonics technology—using light instead of electricity to move data between chips. The goal is to achieve transmission speeds of 400 Gbps with five times better energy efficiency than current interconnects . The Commerce Department believes this could advance U.S. leadership in AI infrastructure by two to three years.
2. Kepler Computing – Up to $245 million for ferroelectric memory
Kepler is developing a new class of AI memory that combines 3D integration with ferroelectric technology—a material that retains data without continuous power . This helps solve the “memory wall” problem that slows down AI systems.
3. Multibeam Corporation – Up to $140 million for advanced packaging
Multibeam is developing technology that assembles and stacks multiple chips with thousands of connections—crucial for “Chiplet” designs .
Other recipients include Extropic ($75 million for thermodynamic computing), Thintronics ($50 million for dielectric materials), OBSIDIA Semiconductors ($34 million for counterfeit detection), and Aeluma ($30 million for photodetector substrates) .
The Bipartisan Push on Semiconductors
The strategy and investments are getting bipartisan support in Congress. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) have reaffirmed their commitment to extending the Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit (CHIPS ITC)—a 35% tax credit for semiconductor manufacturing investment that was created by the CHIPS and Science Act .
The tax credit has helped catalyze hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. semiconductor investment across 28 states, but it expires at the end of 2026 unless Congress acts . SEMI, the semiconductor industry association, is urging a multi-year extension before the construction deadline passes .
The Debate: Is Government Ownership a Good Thing?
Not everyone is comfortable with the government taking equity stakes in private companies. The libertarian Cato Institute has been vocal about the risks .
Tad DeHaven, policy analyst at the Cato Institute, argues that “the federal government has powers no private shareholder possesses” and that “a government that owns the players cannot be trusted to call the game fairly” . He warns that the administration’s approach “could weaken market discipline, steer private capital toward politically favored firms, and place competitors and startups at a disadvantage” .
DeHaven also notes a key difference from past government equity deals: “Whatever one thinks of those interventions, they were justified as emergency stabilization measures and generally intended to be unwound. The second Trump administration is doing something quite different” . The CHIPS R&D Office has discretion over which companies qualify for the Investment Fund Path and the associated equity requirements .
What This Means for the Future
The pattern across these developments is clear. The White House strategy provides the framework. The CHIPS Act’s investments target specific technical bottlenecks. The government’s equity stakes mean taxpayers have a financial interest in the outcome.
What makes this moment different from previous technology waves is the coordination—and the willingness to take equity stakes rather than just hand out subsidies. The U.S. is not simply funding research and hoping for the best. It is building the infrastructure—physical, intellectual, and institutional—to support technology leadership for decades to come.
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