One further force promoting AI innovation could be defence spending. America puts only a tiny fraction of its $850bn defence budget into AI. Silicon Valley executives hope that the Trump administration will allow more participation by startups building AI weapons and systems in the competition for defence contracts.

Dubbed Stargate, the joint venture was poised to receive an initial cash injection of $100bn from the tech giants, rising to as much as $500bn over the next four years, according to two people familiar with the matter.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced a private sector investment of up to $500 billion to fund infrastructure for artificial intelligence, aiming to outpace rival nations in the business-critical technology.