It was another big week with Donald Trump taking office and the technology industry’s influence becoming increasingly apparent in the new administration.

That new landscape, as well as subjects such as the Stargate Project, were main subjects for theCUBE Research industry analysts John Furrier (pictured, left) and Dave Vellante (right) to discuss on the latest episode of the CUBE Podcast.

The inauguration included appearances from various top tech executives, including Tesla Inc. Chief Executive Elon Musk, Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos and Meta Platforms Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg. That served to illustrate the tech influence that is coming into focus in the new administration, according to Furrier.

“There’s some critical pieces to the puzzle that are being worked on right now that you see movement on, with the real aggressive stance that is the crypto policy and the AI policy,” Furrier said.

More details emerge about Stargate Project

New details emerged this week about the $500 billion initiative dubbed the Stargate Project. The goal of the project is to revolutionize AI infrastructure, according to Furrier.

“The Stargate Project is a joint venture — OpenAI, SoftBank, Oracle,” he said. “It’s being claimed as one of the most ambitious public-private collaborations in the tech sector.”

AI infrastructure, of course, is critical for U.S. competitiveness, spanning data centers, power, cooling and water. The move could be transformative if it successfully builds the “AI roads” needed for growth, according to Furrier.

“The question is, can they actually do it? So, again, both sides are in play here,” Furrier said. “The pro, we need infrastructure … the other side of my brain is, OK, where’s it go?”

Elon Musk posted on X that they don’t have the money. With SoftBank’s Arm ownership valued at well over $100 billion, selling Arm stock could generate capital but might pressure the stock, according to Vellante.

“Oracle already has a lot of debt, so I don’t see that being a financing vehicle. So, it’s unclear where the money would come from, unless SoftBank was willing to sell,” Vellante said.

The plan is unlikely, for that reason, to involve $100 billion in CapEx. Instead, it’s a project that’s already underway, involving multiple partners, shared capital and operating expenses spread over time, according to Vellante.

“This goes back to … 2016, and in terms of who’s happy, it’s a good day for OpenAI. Their valuations probably went up,” Vellante said. “Which in a way is good for Microsoft from the standpoint of they invested early, but it’s not good for Microsoft, in my opinion, because they’re cut out of this deal.”

TikTok gets a lifeline

Last week, Trump issued an executive order that suspended the U.S. government’s ban of TikTok for 75 days. The deluge of real-time news is creating a new arbitrage in managing content flow, with Trump mastering it, according to Furrier.

“Mainstream media can’t keep up. That’s why they’re eating dust right now. This is where I think the TikTok ban was interesting, because that’s a major power source for real-time velocity,” Furrier said.

Last week, Vellante argued that handling TikTok should be done on economic grounds and fairness and balance of trade, not on security, which follows by default.

“If you make this about, ‘Hey, you won’t let our social media play in China, so we’re not going to let your social media play in the United States, unless you let us own half,’ that just puts the onus back on China,” Vellante added.

Packed event calendar

The event calendar remains packed for theCUBE, with the Cyber Resiliency Summit having just wrapped up. The event highlighted critical issues surrounding cybersecurity, particularly the growing threat of ransomware and the evolving role of artificial intelligence in both offense and defense.

The coming months will bring other key events, including when theCUBE teams up again with the New York Stock Exchange for a Super Studio event on February 14, welcoming Silicon Valley’s top CMO leaders innovating in artificial intelligence initiatives. Live coverage is also on the way from MWC25, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon EU and Google Cloud.

“You’ve got tons of events. RSA, we’re going to do a lot of security events. Look for AI events as well. We’re going to see a lot of new brands emerging,” Furrier said. “Everyone’s trying to be that AI event. We’ll be at the most important ones, of course.”

Watch the full podcast below to find out why these industry pros were mentioned:

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla
Trinity Chavez, lead anchor at NYSE
Donald Trump, 47th president of the United States of America
David O. Sacks, South African-American entrepreneur and author
Jason Calacanis, internet entrepreneur
Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, co-host at All-In
Chris Sacca, American investor
Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America
Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase
Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI
Larry Ellison, chairman of the board and CTO of Oracle
Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft
Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president
Masayoshi Son, CEO of SoftBank
Jeff Bezos, executive chairman of Amazon
Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle
Steve Bannon, former White House Chief Strategist
Bill Clinton, 42nd U.S. president
Christopher Young, EVP of business development, strategy and ventures at Microsoft
Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman at MicroStrategy
Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase
Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google
Joe Biden, 46th United States president
Melania Trump, first Lady of the United States
Ross William Ulbricht, is an American activist and ex-cybercriminal
Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta Platforms
Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet
Joe Rogan, American podcaster
Lex Fridman, American computer scientist and podcaster
Christophe Bertrand, principal analyst at theCUBE Research
Sarbjeet Johal, founder and CEO of Stackpane
Brian J. Baumann, director of Capital Markets at NYSE
Rob Strechay, managing director and principal analyst at theCUBE Research

Here’s the full theCUBE Pod episode:

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Photo: SiliconANGLE