Money columnist For shareholders, it was a moment of uncertainty. Would Trump the president rip up the lucrative contracts that were in the works with Musk’s other companies, or would they hug it out and move on? While the share price has since well and truly bounced back, and we know things ultimately did stabilise, that wasn’t a given at the time. Last week, a similar kind of cautionary tale involving AI investing and the White House made headlines around the world when the US government had another massive and public bust-up with one of the world’s leading technology companies. The short version of the story is that, after weeks of negotiations, a $US200 million ($285 million) deal between the government and a tech company called Anthropic broke down after it wanted formal assurances from the White House that its AI systems would not be used in autonomous lethal weapons or mass surveillance – demands the administration didn’t respond well to. Advertisement As is the norm these days, Trump responded to the deal falling apart by slamming Anthropic on social media and calling it a “radical Left AI company run by people who have no idea what the real World is all about”. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth then effectively blacklisted the company by designating it a supply chain risk to national security. By the end of that same day, OpenAI – which owns ChatGPT and is Anthropic’s competitor – announced it had swooped in and scooped up the lucrative $US200 million contract. Pete Hegseth (left) declared last week that he planned to designate Anthropic – whose chief executive is Dario Amodei (right) – as a supply chain risk. Bloomberg Now, if you happen to own shares in OpenAI, news that it secured a major contract with one of the most powerful governments in the world is probably very welcome. And given Anthropic is still a privately held company that you cannot buy shares in, you might be wondering if all this really matters. To my mind, it’s significant for a number of reasons. Of course, there are numerous factors at play when it comes to the sharemarket and how it performs, and the social media posts of one world leader is hardly responsible for every drop or rise. Advertisement But when it comes to these shares specifically, what is significant is that the vast majority of publicly listed tech companies are based in the US. The second is that, right now, governments around the world are working very closely, and spending a lot of money, with tech companies, and the US is largely leading the way. Editor's pick