INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGY&INNOVATIONFOUNDATIONAEGISPROJECTFORDEFENDINGU.S. TECHLEADERSHIPTip of the lceberg: Understanding the FullDepth of Big Tech's Contribution to USInnovation and CompetitivenessWhile critics attack "'big tech " from many angles, these five companies develop frontiestechnologies that require large-scale development, build in frastructure ranging from data centersto subsea cables, and create spillovers from health care to nuclear energy,KEYTAKEAWAYSBigtech companies investmore in R&D than both most countries and the federa government's non-defense research budget do, providing the scale necessary to pursuefrontier technologies that reauire massive up-front investment.These companies demonstrate a unique willingnessto sustain bllinsof dllas in losseson high-risk, long-horizon projects that traditional investors and even governments cannotsupport.Theiropen researchmodel generateseconomy-wide benfts through publisthed papers, open-source frameworks, and freely available datasets, enabling innovation acrossTechnology investments generate substantial spillovers into health care, energyagriculture, transportation, and defense-fromdrug discovervto cropdisease detectionsystems.LargeU.S. tech companies proide crtical priate-sector capacity to comete withChina's state-backed tech champions, which benefit from massive government subsidiesand coordinated industrial strategies.Policv debates that focus onlv on big tech companies' harms without recoenizing thesscontributions risk undermining the capabilities supporting America's technologicalleadership, economy, and securityitif.org
CONTENTSKeyTakeaways..........1ntodutio...................ialEens...InnovationInvestm...............”5Unique FinancialCapacity forHigh-Risk............................. ScaleCreatesFundamentalyOifferentlnoxation SPosil◎ti......Competing With State-Backed Chinese Competit,....Oben Research and Talent Concentrat.o...12Open Research Mod.........12TalentMulipierffets.....Strategic Infrastrucu.e......privateCanitalFillsCriticalInfrastrucure.a....Infrastructure Ownership as Geoplitical L ever.,1.StrategicCompetition fr Gilobal Digital Intrastru.u.Dua-Use Techologies and National.Sew........20MilitaryAdaptationofCommer.ial-la.m.........,HealthCGaeandeHinmeicelRess...AgricultureandFoo-e.........24EmvinonmentalScin.e.im.....NuclearEnerg...........24TransportationandIUn.m.n癞晡ly......QuantumComputingBreakthrou....... Nurturing the Startup Ecsy-.e....2Creating ExitMarkets andProidin.al.........RescuingandScalingPromising'rh............AmericanSoftPowe.......Cultureand.an...Development Substituio....oReogiean AocountfrtheFulebegromusio..-mo.................2INFORMATIONTECHNOLOGY &INNOVATIONFOUNDATIONIOCTOBER2025PAGE2
INTRODUCTIONAs late as the early 2010s, large U.S. information technology companieswere celebrated bypliticians, media, and academics. Now they attack big tech as toopowerful and greedy. Liberalscomplain that they are sureilling society, spreading harmful content, and underminingdemocracy.Conservatives say that they are censoring free speec...
