President Trump and his team like to tout $2 trillion in new company investments made since Inauguration Day. They argue it illustrates a broad economic renaissance and shows how tariffs can be used as an incentive to attract more commitments.
Nearly all of the big-dollar investments thus far have two things in common, according to a Yahoo Finance analysis of the 60-plus projects. They are clustered in the world of Big Tech and largely come from sectors where Trump’s final tariff plans are most uncertain.
The data shows an outsized reliance on tech projects, with commitments from semiconductor companies, those building “AI infrastructure,” and a single promise from Apple (AAPL) making up nearly 85% of the total money promised so far.
Healthcare and new pharmaceutical manufacturing make up most of the remainder (about 11%), with a range of other commitments, from new energy projects to food companies, comprising the remaining 4.2% of the total, according to the Yahoo Finance tallies.
A running tally of these projects is on the White House website. The president brings them up regularly and often uses the commitments to buttress his case for tariffs.
“Intelligently used tariffs and various other forms of incentives [have led to investments that are] really amazing,” Trump told dozens of CEOs he recently hosted at the White House.
Read more: The latest news and updates on Trump’s tariffs
2 areas with heavy investments and tariff uncertainty: Semiconductors and pharmaceuticals
Semiconductor companies have led the way, with pledges from Nvidia (NVDA), IBM (IBM), and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSM) totaling three-quarters of a trillion dollars.
Another $500 billion pledge from semiconductor-dependent Apple brings the tally of those pledges alone to well over half of all the money promised.
What’s notable is that these four companies have perhaps the least clarity of what Trump’s tariff agenda will mean for their business.
Trump has made direct promises of semiconductor tariffs but has yet to announce them.
In the meantime, he recently offered a major tariff concession in April that excluded Apple from his 145% tariffs on goods from China because of these still-to-be-announced plans for semiconductor duties.
The dynamic is similar in the area of healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
Companies ranging from Abbott Laboratories (ABT) to Roche (ROG.SW) are putting up money even as those sectors are another major piece of Trump’s trade agenda that has yet to be announced, though Trump and his team also promise new tariffs are coming there.
As just one example, the announcement this week of a limited deal between the US and the UK included a note that “work will continue on the remaining sectors — such as pharmaceuticals.”
Read more: What Trump’s tariffs mean for the economy and your wallet
The awards have also raised plenty of questions about what they will ultimately look like.
A carefully worded press release from Nvidia noted that its plans are to produce “up to” half a trillion dollars in new investments in the years ahead and that it will be done “through partnerships” with other companies, including TSMC.
The plans from IBM and TSMC also represent expansions of existing sites — in upstate New York for IBM and Arizona for TSMC — that were built out in recent years following investments made during the Biden administration.
Those investments were made available through the CHIPS and Science Act, enacted in 2022, which offered direct government grants to companies.
Trump himself has repeatedly dismissed any link and said again this past week that “the CHIPs Act was a ridiculous thing because that doesn’t get them to build,” adding that “these are not people that look for financing.”
A reliance on Big Tech
Many of Trump’s funding announcements also include pledges from companies centered around “AI infrastructure” to help America build up the computing and server capacity to power a growing artificial intelligence sector in the years ahead.
At least 10 promises fall into that bucket, the most prominent by far are plans for a $500 billion “Project Stargate” to be led by OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), SoftBank, and Oracle (ORCL).
That effort warranted its own White House event in January, just days into the second Trump administration, but immediately faced questions. Elon Musk posted that “they don’t actually have the money” and further critiqued OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, a longtime rival.
Work on the Stargate project in Texas continues, Altman told lawmakers this past week while also promising that the center would eventually be further expanded to support plans for a new initiative called OpenAI for Countries.
“I believe this will be at least as big as the internet, maybe bigger,” Altman told lawmakers about AI, adding, “for that to happen, investment in infrastructure is critical.”
Outside of Big Tech, the remainder of the investments in the White House tally spans a wide array of sectors, from automobiles to food to defense to consumer goods.
The investments include a $19 million investment in bicycle frame manufacturing in Indiana, $230 million for chocolate in Virginia, and $88 million for a new Toyota (TM) production site in West Virginia.
The Toyota investment recently earned Ted Ogawa, CEO of Toyota North America, a White House invitation, with Trump telling him, “Thank you, Ted,” and calling the coming plant “a beauty.”
Ben Werschkul is a Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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