Steel Yourselves

In the wake of the U.S. government taking a 10% stake in Intel, a “golden share” in U.S. Steel and securing a deal with Nvidia and AMD for a portion of revenue generated by chip sales in China, FGS Global’s Insights team canvassed our nationwide insights community of news-attentive Americans, TrendSpotters, for reactions to the Trump administration’s interventionist moves.

They found concerns about competition from China are largely driving Republican support for government intervention in strategic industries. President Trump’s personal brand largely shields him from traditional conservative criticisms of government overreach.

The findings also included:

• Republicans strongly support the administration’s interventionist actions, citing them as a strategy to compete with China, reduce the deficit and stimulate economic growth. Only a quarter believe government stakes in companies undermine the free market and hinder innovation, compared to three-quarters of Democrats (73%).

• A small segment of Republicans opposes government intervention on principle, concerned such actions undermine the fundamentals of a functioning market. But most Republicans express their trust in the president’s perceived willingness to take bold, unconventional actions in the best interest of the American people.

• Most Republicans give limited consideration to arguments against government intervention in business.

  • Given a list of concerns, a quarter of Republicans (25%) say none of them are concerning, and only 8% say they worry about a shift toward socialism. Nineteen percent are concerned government ownership often comes with political strings attached, compared with more than twice that for Democrats (46%).

• Learning Bernie Sanders and Mark Cuban support the Intel deal does little to move Democrats and strengthens support among some Republicans. Nearly all Democrats are unwilling to support anything Trump does, while Sanders’ support reaffirms Republicans’ backing, believing support from a well-known Trump critic indicates these moves must be good policy.

Federal judge Amit Mehta’s September 2 decision in the DOJ’s antitrust case against Google imposes some remedies to restore competition in search and generative AI markets. The court barred Google from exclusive deals for search products and required it to share some search data with competitors, including AI firms, for six years. But structural remedies like divesting Chrome were rejected.

The district court seemed resolute that Google monopolized the market for general search services, but was hesitant to use all the available tools to restore competition in the market.

Putting aside structural remedies, it seems strange that a company is found liable for conduct but still allowed to engage in the conduct. The court even recognized that this may blunt the effectiveness of the remedies it imposed. The court did make clear that it is prepared to revisit the proposed remedy on banning payments for prime placement of Google products if competition is not restored. 

Now, the devil is in the details. Google and the DOJ must come to baseline agreements on everything from terms of service definitions to the technical specifications of certain APIs- not an easy task. Taken on its face, many of the data governance mechanisms could be quite strong and open the market to disruptive innovation. However, Google has a history of gaming compliance to keep its data edge. Going forward, DOJ will have to adhere to Ronald Reagan’s maxim about the Soviets, “Trust but verify.”  

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Reddit’s latest earnings report shows the company hitting its fastest revenue growth in three years, fueled by aggressive investments in AI and advertising. The company reported $500 million in revenue for the quarter, with ad revenue alone increasing 84% – underscoring how quickly AI can move from a strategic initiative to a central driver of growth. 

Several initiatives are driving this momentum, including Reddit’s AI-powered marketing tools coupled with its data licensing deals with companies like OpenAI and Google. Additionally, the company introduced Reddit Answers, a conversational tool that uses generative AI to synthesize information from real posts and comments, making it easier for users to find relevant insights.

This spike in revenue for Reddit marks a turning point for the company where AI is at the core of its business strategy, fueling both user engagement and monetization. By focusing on AI-powered advertising and data licensing, the company has positioned itself as a serious contender among digital platforms leveraging AI for growth and user retention. 

This reflects a broader industry shift for social platforms increasingly relying on AI to unlock new revenue streams, improve ad targeting and create more personalized user experiences.  

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