Marc Andreessen bet big on Trump to ward off tech’s detractors

As Elon Musk’s relationship with Donald Trump disintegrates in dramatic fashion, other tech magnates have quietly positioned themselves to influence Washington for years to come — and few are likely to have more reach than Marc Andreessen.

After donating to Democrats for years, the California venture capitalist has undergone a political metamorphosis, becoming a close Trump ally. His shift crystallized, Andreessen has said, after he was snubbed at the White House last year by Joe Biden.

Andreessen had traveled to Washington with his longtime investing partner Ben Horowitz, with whom he founded legendary Silicon Valley firm Andreessen Horowitz, also known as a16z. The men, concerned about Biden’s approach to cryptocurrency, were hoping to speak with the then-president about artificial intelligence, but Biden wouldn’t see them. Instead, they met with senior administration staffers, who rattled the investors by laying out an aggressive vision for regulating AI.

“We said, ‘Oh, my God, they’re going to kill us,’” Andreessen recounted on a podcast earlier this year. “‘They’re going to kill our companies.’”

From that day on, Andreessen said, he was all-in on Trump.

Even before that pivotal White House visit, relations between the Biden administration and the tech world were strained. Biden installed federal regulators, like Lina Khan at the Federal Trade Commission, where she aimed to limit tech’s growing economic power. At the same time, a bigger social shift was unfolding, as many Americans became wary of social media and Big Tech. And within tech companies, some employees pushed back over their bosses’ handling of misinformation and other broader issues, including war and immigration.

For many tech lifers, it was a disorienting reversal.

“You just hear in what Andreessen is saying and what he is writing in the last couple of years that it is quite personal, that he feels personally hurt by all of the pushback, all of the criticism,” said Margaret O’Mara, a Silicon Valley historian and professor at the University of Washington. “They’re used to being listened to, and not being listened to is immensely frustrating.”

Andreessen is now deeply connected with the Trump administration, with the clout to change the culture in Washington. Like fellow Silicon Valley billionaires Musk and Peter Thiel, he has a network of more than half a dozen allies who’ve been appointed to high-level roles overseeing industries and companies he champions.

“President Trump pledged to secure America’s dominance in AI and other cutting-edge technologies that will define the 21st century, and the administration is committed to working with the best and brightest talent from the private sector to deliver on this mandate,” said White House spokesperson Kush Desai.

Andreessen and the former employees of a16z and its portfolio companies who are now working in the administration didn’t answer emails seeking comment for this article.

Since the start of Trump’s term, companies connected to Andreessen have recorded notable wins. The Securities and Exchange Commission dropped a civil enforcement action against Coinbase Global Inc. OpenAI is included in the planned $500 billion Stargate AI infrastructure project. Anduril, a defense tech startup, will manage and manufacture new infantry goggles for the US Army in a contract potentially worth more than $20 billion.

At the same time, there have been reminders that proximity to Trump doesn’t guarantee favorable outcomes.

Musk had been close to Trump as the leader of DOGE, but the billionaire and the president have had a spectacular public falling out, with Trump threatening to end the SpaceX and Tesla Inc. chief’s government contracts. Coinbase is dealing with a fresh SEC investigation over whether it misreported user numbers, which Coinbase’s top lawyer said is a holdover from the Biden administration and “should not continue.” And like many industries, tech has been bruised by Trump’s erratic tariff policies.

“They’re putting their eggs in a pretty fragile basket with Trump,” said O’Mara. “It’s a big bet that may or may not pay off.”

Here are some of the places where Andreessen’s influence could help shape government policy and the people who are helping him:

Defense Technology
Goals: In 2022, Andreessen Horowitz started a national security-focused program called American Dynamism that has mainly invested in defense-technology startups, including companies that make autonomous drones, aircraft and boats. Success depends on securing government contracts, which are competitive and involve a long and complicated process.

Andreessen’s allies: Multiple former employees of Anduril, one of a16z’s major defense investments, have joined the administration, including at the Pentagon. One, Michael Obadal, was a senior director at Anduril before his nomination to be the Army’s No. 2 civilian official in March. Another, Ryan Wunderly, was a robotics engineer at Anduril who joined DOGE in the Treasury Department.

What to watch: With the Pentagon focused on innovation, more than $130 billion has been plowed into defense-tech startups from 2021 to the beginning of this year, according to PitchBook, double the previous four years. Andreessen’s a16z invested in 14 from 2021 through August 2024, according to Crunchbase, more than any other venture-capital firm. Other leaders in defense tech investing include Palantir Technologies Inc. co-founders Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC and Thiel’s Founders Fund. Last week, Anduril said its valuation has more than doubled from last year, to $30.5 billion, on a fresh fundraising round led by Founders Fund.

Crypto
Goals: Andreessen wants the government to encourage crypto’s growth and establish a loose regulatory framework to normalize the adoption of digital currency in society. In 2022, Biden signed an executive order calling for “responsible development of digital assets.” Andreessen called the administration’s approach a “terror campaign.” He claimed that Biden tried to prevent crypto startup founders from being able to use US banks, which federal officials denied.

Andreessen’s allies: Brian Quintenz, who leads crypto policy at a16z, has been nominated to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees crypto. He pledged to recuse himself from matters directly related to the firm or its funds for two years, unless he receives a waiver. A Senate confirmation hearing for his nomination was held Tuesday.

What to watch: A Trump executive order laid out the goal of making the US “the center of digital financial technology innovation,” with crypto “unhindered by restrictive regulations or unnecessary government interference.” Trump’s family businesses have sold meme coins and signaled plans to buy billions in Bitcoin.

In Congress, Andreessen has backed the GENIUS Act, which creates standards for so-called stablecoins, or digital currencies linked to other asset prices. Another measure, called the CLARITY Act, would create transparency on rules for crypto marketplaces like Coinbase, lowering their legal risks. Chris Dixon, a general partner at a16z, said in statements on behalf of the company that they support both pieces of legislation.

Artificial Intelligence
Goals: Andreessen is deeply invested in dozens of AI companies and wants to secure favorable regulation so the industry can develop quickly in the US and outpace foreign competitors.

Andreessen’s allies: Sriram Krishnan, a general partner at a16z for four years, joined the White House as a senior policy adviser on AI. Krishnan is working with David Sacks, Trump’s crypto and AI czar and a longtime ally of Musk and Thiel who often echoes Andreessen’s AI talking points.

At the Department of Health and Human Services, Peter Bowman-Davis, a 22-year-old a16z engineering fellow on leave from Yale University, was named acting chief AI officer, according to Politico. Wired reported in May that OpenAI has met with the Food and Drug Administration about a potential partnership and that Bowman-Davis has been part of conversations on the agency’s AI plans.

What to watch: On his first day in office, Trump rescinded a 2023 Biden order establishing federal oversight of AI growth. The tax bill passed by the House in May includes a measure that would block states from enforcing new AI rules over the next decade. More than 200 state lawmakers from both parties have urged Congress to scrap the measure.

Krishnan was in the Persian Gulf with Trump in May for talks with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, along with Horowitz, Musk, OpenAI chief Sam Altman and others. Krishnan helped broker a deal to allow the sale of more than a million Nvidia chips to the United Arab Emirates. “This ‘AI diplomacy’ will help lock in the American tech stack in the region,” he posted on X. Yet some fear it could redirect computing power away from the US and potentially put it in the hands of Chinese companies.

Other Ties
Andreessen has allies in the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially acts as the federal government’s human-resources office. Trump’s pick to lead the agency is Scott Kupor, who was a managing partner at a16z and lists himself on LinkedIn as “Employee #1” at the investment firm. OPM worked in close concert with DOGE on federal staffing cuts.

Greg Hogan, who was vice president of infrastructure at a16z-backed Comma.ai, is now OPM’s chief information officer, putting him in charge of the agency’s data and cybersecurity. And the new CIO at the Treasury Department is Sam Corcos, the co-founder and CEO of Levels, a food-tracking startup that a16z invested in in August. Bloomberg