Tech executives pivot to war

Tech execs are cozying up to the military industrial complex, seeking partnerships, contracts, and now actual military commissions.

Jon Keegan

6/23/25 2:12PM

Tech executives tend to have their fads: fasting, cold plunges, and vampiric transfusions of youthful blood are life hacks that have become popular within the C-suites of the Silicon Valley crowd. But now a new trend is gripping the tech bro set: straight-up war.

In the twilight of the Biden administration, the White House signaled it was down to clown with AI companies for national security applications.

Tech companies wasted no time lining up for juicy defense partnerships and contracts. Meta offered up use of its Llama models for national security use, followed by Anthropic partnering with Palantir to use its Claude models on the battlefield.

It wasn’t that long ago that OpenAI prohibited the use of its products for “activity that has high risk of physical harm, including: Weapons development; Military and warfare,” only to quietly remove such language in January 2024. By the end of last year, OpenAI was announcing a deal with defense contractor Anduril to use its models to identify airborne threats.

Earlier this month, OpenAI announced its first one-year $200 million contract with the Department of Defense, which described the work as a contract to “develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains.”

And the pivot to fighting is not just vague military contracts. It also includes prominent tech executives directly investing in weapons manufacturers and actually becoming active-duty members of the US Army:

Spotify CEO Daniel Ek is investing in German drone company Helsing, with his Prima Materia venture capital firm leading the $700 million investment round.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth is joining the US Army’s new “Detachment 201: Executive Innovation Corps” as an Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, along with...
...OpenAI Chief Product Officer Kevin Weil...
...Palantir’s CTO, Shyam Sankar...
...and Bob McGrew, former chief research officer at OpenAI.

Of course, former government employee Elon Musk’s SpaceX has long been one of the most visible defense contractors, receiving over $4 billion in launch contracts from the Department of Defense, assuming President Trump doesn’t cancel the contracts in a fit of pique.

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Musk wants Tesla’s Optimus to get in and out of the Cybercab to deliver packages

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos seem to be competing on nearly every level. Both have media companies, both have space companies, and both helm private AI companies. Now it seems their giant public tech companies are slated to go head to head.

Musk has told his teams working on the Optimus robot that he wants it to be able to get in and out of the company’s Cybercab to make deliveries, according to a report by The Information. Amazon, of course, has also been amping up its use of robots, eventually planning to have them deliver its e-commerce packages.

The Optimus and Cybercab are supposed to go into production next year.

How Musk Could Tie Together Tesla and xAI

The Optimus and Cybercab are supposed to go into production next year.

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Elon Musk runs an AI startup — now, so does Jeff Bezos, as he launches Project Prometheus

Jeff Bezos, the third-richest man in the world and the founder of Amazon, a company increasingly focused on AI, has created a new AI startup of which he will be co-CEO, according to The New York Times. The new venture, Project Prometheus, aims to use AI to engineer and manufacture automobiles and spacecraft. It also sounds quite a bit like Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI.

Musk, the richest man in the world and the CEO of Tesla, a company increasingly focused on AI, also leads his AI startup and is progressively working on integrating its technology into his vehicle and space companies.

Musk’s space company is SpaceX, while Bezos’ is called Blue Origin. Musk owns social media company X, formerly Twitter, which is now part of xAI. Bezos owns media company The Washington Post. Bezos also has invested in an EV company, Slate Auto, which some see as a “Tesla killer.” Got it?

In other words, Bezos and Musk remain engaged in a billionaire version of “keeping up with the Joneses.”

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FT says Apple’s CEO could step down as soon as 2026, Bloomberg disagrees

Late Friday, the Financial Times reported that Apple CEO Tim Cook, a 65-year-old who’s led the company for nearly 15 years, could be stepping down as early as next year. On Saturday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, whose Apple reporting is considered gospel by many, pooh-poohed that timeline, saying that while Apple is readying succession plans, “I don’t get the sense anything is imminent as the @FT is claiming.”

Both the FT and Bloomberg have reported that Apple’s hardware chief, John Ternus, is likely next in line.

The stock is down about 1% premarket, as investors contemplate what Apple, which recently posted a superlative Q4 earnings report, would be like without its longtime supply chain guru.

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Keeping an AI out

11/14/25

Apple’s limited AI exposure is paying off again

Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and Meta are negative this month.

Rani Molla11/14/25

Tesla is back in the negative this year

After falling more than 6% yesterday in its biggest drop since July, Tesla is once again in negative territory for the year. Elon Musk’s company posted record earnings last month, buoyed by pulled-forward demand tied to the final quarter of US federal EV tax credits, but its margins slipped as steep discounts were used to clear inventory.

Now the stock, which only turned positive for the year in September, is under renewed pressure amid a broader tech and AI sell-off, as investors grow concerned that the Federal Reserve may pause its rate-cutting cycle. Adding to the drag are soft sales in Tesla’s second-largest market, China, and news that longtime bull Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest unloaded roughly $30 million in shares this week.