- Bitcoin saw historical high levels in same period
ISTANBUL
The inauguration of US President Donald Trump on Jan. 20 has caused a week-long surge in US tech stocks and Bitcoin, because of his positive remarks on developing the tech and AI infrastructure in the US, until China's DeepSeek AI bot affected US tech stocks on Monday.
Trump also promised that "the US will be crypto capital of planet and Bitcoin superpower of world," and said: "I want the US to be first in technology, science, manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI) and space."
Trump's first term, which ended in 2021, saw a nationalist and protectionist economic and trade policy which prioritized American companies and goods. Trump continued to give remarks highlighting the continuation of this protectionist and "America First" policy.
"Bitcoin is going to the moon and I want America to be the nation that leads the way," he said in the annual Bitcoin Conference on July 28, 2024.
"This is (like) the steel industry 100 years ago," Trump said about Bitcoin. "In 15 years, Bitcoin has become the most valuable asset anywhere in the world, it is already bigger than ExxonMobil," he added, referring to the largest energy company in the US.
"If we don't do it, China and others will do it. So, let's do it first and let's do it right," said Trump. "We cannot let China dominate. I want the US to be first in technology, science, manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI) and space," he noted.
From Jan. 17 to 24, Bitcoin price soared 3.1% in a week, its price saw a historical high level by exceeding $109,000 on Jan. 20.
Meanwhile, the price of Ethereum decreased by 1% in the same period.
Tech figures
In his inauguration ceremony, some big names from tech giants in the US were present, even closer to the president than his Cabinet picks. Meta’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, and Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk gathered together to symbolize the increasingly close relationship between the tech industry and the new American president.
Also, Trump has appointed Elon Musk, a billionaire CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, the administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency, which was established to "cut costs" by Trump. This also signaled that billionaires and CEOs will be welcome in Trump's government.
Trump's inauguration fund donors told the same story. With a staggering $170 million, it broke the record of $107 million set also by himself back in 2017. Microsoft, Google, Ford, General Motors, and Toyota donated $1 million each while energy giant Chevron and tech giants Apple, Amazon, Meta, and OpenAI also joined the donor list but did not disclose the amount.
These contributions to Trump 2.0 and the potential of extensive partnership resulted in growth in the tech firms' stock prices.
"America will be a manufacturing nation once again, and we have something that no other manufacturing nation will ever have -- the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on earth, and we are going to use it," said Trump at his inauguration speech on Jan. 20.
On Jan. 22, Trump announced the establishment of an AI infrastructure company "The Stargate Project" citing it to be "the largest AI infrastructure project by far in history" and said it would help keep "the future of technology" in the US, which will be associated with tech giants such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI, Nvidia, Oracle, SoftBank, Microsoft, ARM Holdings, and MGX.
The company will invest $100 billion for the expansion of AI infrastructure in the US, OpenAI announced, adding that the investment will be expanded up to $500 billion.
After the inauguration and especially this announcement, big tech's stock prices in the US exploded with SoftBank increasing by 16.2%, Oracle 14%, ARM Holdings 8.88%, MGX 13.79%, Nvidia 3.54%, and Microsoft 3.5% from Jan 17 close to Jan. 24 close.
Apart from the companies which are associated with the AI infrastructure project, other big tech companies such as Google and Amazon saw rises as well. Meta stocks rose 5.66%, Amazon 3.94%, Google 2.2%, Monolithic Power Systems 8.4%, Vertiv 7.68%, Broadcom 3.05%, Cisco Systems 3.32%, and Dell Technologies 3.7% in the same period.
Davos remarks
Trump continued to give positive remarks for the businesses in the US in his speech at Davos summit on Thursday.
"The US has the largest amount of oil and gas of any country on Earth, and we're going to use it. Not only will this reduce the cost of virtually all goods and services, it will make the US a manufacturing superpower and the world capital of artificial intelligence and crypto," Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos.
"Under the Trump administration, there will be no better place on Earth to create jobs, build factories, or grow a company than right here in the good old USA."
"My message to every business in the world is very simple: Come make your product in America, and we will give you among the lowest taxes of any nation on earth," Trump said.
"But if you don’t make your product in America, which is your prerogative, then very simply you will have to pay a tariff. Differing amounts, but a tariff."
"SoftBank has announced between a $100 billion and $200 billion investment in the US economy because of the election result. And just two days ago, Oracle, SoftBank and OpenAi announced a $500 billion investment in AI infrastructure. Other companies likewise have announced billions, and billions, and billions –adding up to trillions – of investment in America, in the US," he added.
Trump has also encouraged the development of AI technologies and infrastructure in the US by revoking an executive order of Biden that sought to "reduce the risks that AI poses to consumers, workers and national security."
He also signed on Thursday an executive order to encourage the development of cryptocurrencies in the US and to explore the possibility of creating a national digital asset stockpile.
Trump's tariff remarks also played a positive role for the rise of stocks of tech and manufacturing industries in the US.
Some experts stress that his tariff threats may encourage investors to channel their capital into US manufacturing and technology companies.
"On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the US, and its ridiculous Open Borders," he said on Nov. 25, 2024 on Truth Social regarding tariffs.
Trump also said he would also seek to impose additional tariffs on China.
Drops on Monday
Meanwhile, tech stocks plummeted on Monday because of China's DeepSeek AI bot, a rival of the US' ChatGPT.
Stock prices of tech companies such as Nvidia, Oracle, Meta, and Google have seen significant drops as the Chinese venture has overtaken ChatGPT in Apple Store downloads.
DeepSeek said that its free AI assistant uses less data at a fraction of the cost of the major players in the industry.
