United States: technology profile

AI

Since January 2025 the administration has framed federal AI policy around removing regulatory barriers. A January 23, 2025 executive order told agencies to review actions taken under the previous administration's revoked AI order and roll back those that conflict with the new policy. America's AI Action Plan, released July 23, 2025, listed more than 90 federal actions under three pillars: innovation, infrastructure, and international diplomacy and security. A December 2025 order told the Attorney General to create a task force to challenge state AI laws. On March 20, 2026 the White House published a legislative framework with six objectives, including child protection. It called on Congress to legislate.

On safety, the administration has favored voluntary commitments. On September 29, 2026, six companies (Nvidia, SpaceX, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google) signed a safety agreement with the White House, Reuters reported. It includes no stated consequences for non-compliance, Reuters said. The same day, Executive Order 14434 directed agencies to use the term Super Intelligence instead of Artificial Intelligence in official communications.

Stanford's 2026 AI Index put US private AI investment at $285.9 billion in 2025 and counted 5,427 US data centers. It found the performance gap between top US and Chinese models had effectively closed. One large announced build-out is Stargate. OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank said in September 2025 that planned sites totaled nearly 7 gigawatts and more than $400 billion of investment over three years. They said that goes toward a $500 billion, 10-gigawatt commitment announced in January 2025. These are company pledges, not money spent. The Energy Department leads the Genesis Mission, ordered in November 2025 to apply AI to scientific research using national laboratory supercomputers.

Chips and hardware

The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 gave the Commerce Department $50 billion: $39 billion for manufacturing incentives and $11 billion for research and development, NIST says. Some of that money has become equity. Intel announced in August 2025 an $8.9 billion government investment for a 9.9% stake, funded from unpaid CHIPS grants and the Secure Enclave program. TSMC said in March 2025 it intends to raise its planned US investment to $165 billion. On September 8, 2026, Commerce announced final CHIPS research awards of up to $100 million each to three quantum computing companies: Quantinuum, Rigetti and D-Wave.

Export controls limit which technologies can be sold abroad. They have loosened for some chips. On January 13, 2026 the Bureau of Industry and Security moved Nvidia's H200, AMD's MI325X and similar chips to case-by-case license review for China. Conditions include independent US-based testing. Jeffrey Kessler is Commerce under secretary for industry and security. He told a House committee in July 2026 that shipments had begun but very few H200 chips had gone to China, Reuters reported.

Robots and autonomy

On July 30, 2026 NHTSA, the federal road safety regulator, granted Zoox a temporary exemption to deploy up to 2,500 robotaxis a year for two years. That day it funded a three-year, $5 million consortium to develop what the agency calls the first federal performance standards for automated vehicles. It also began updating guidance last revised in 2017. Waymo says its vehicles had driven 271.3 million miles with no human driver through June 2026. In July 2026 the Federal Communications Commission said it was banning imports of new foreign-made humanoid and quadruped robots, citing national security risks, the Associated Press reported. The AP said the move was aimed at China.

Space and energy

NASA's Artemis II flew four astronauts on a lunar flyby between April 1 and April 10, 2026. Under a revised plan announced in February 2026, Artemis III becomes a 2027 test flight in low Earth orbit. A lunar landing is planned for Artemis IV in 2028. In nuclear power, the Energy Department said four advanced reactors reached criticality, a self-sustaining chain reaction, by a July 4, 2026 deadline. On October 5, 2026 it announced a conditional loan commitment of up to $4.2 billion for upgrades at Vistra nuclear plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

What to watch

• Whether Congress turns the White House framework into law, with midterm elections on November 3, 2026.
• New chip rules: Kessler said in July 2026 further regulatory action on chips and AI was coming.
• The US-China trade truce. The two governments extended it by two months in September 2026, to January 2027, NPR reported.
• A US-China dialogue on AI risks and benefits. The White House said the next exchange would occur by November 2026.