President Trump is set to unveil the Genesis Mission on Monday at the White House, a sweeping federal initiative branded as an AI equivalent to the Manhattan Project and the space race.
The executive order signals an unprecedented commitment to domestic artificial intelligence supremacy, mobilizing national laboratories, streamlining data-centre approvals, and forging public-private partnerships.
The Department of Energy official overseeing the project compared it to the Manhattan Project in both scale and national priority.
Wall Street and industry are positioning themselves ahead of the announcement, anticipating massive infrastructure investment and regulatory shifts that could reshape market valuations across semiconductors, data centres, energy and defence.
Trump’s AI ‘Manhattan Project’: Scope and strategy of the initiative
The Genesis Mission represents a whole-of-government strategy to reclaim US leadership in artificial intelligence amid intensifying competition with China.
The initiative encompasses large-scale federal funding for AI research, streamlined permitting for data centres exceeding 100 megawatts of capacity, and coordinated public-private research partnerships spanning national laboratories, universities and tech firms.
The administration will direct federal agencies to identify and utilize government lands for data-centre construction, expedite environmental reviews, and potentially expand tax incentives under the existing Chips Act to cover infrastructure beyond semiconductor fabrication.
The reasoning behind Genesis reflects dual imperatives: national security and economic competitiveness.
AI is viewed as a strategic asset fundamental to military capabilities, global economic influence, and technological leadership.
Since Trump’s return to office, American companies have announced over $400 billion in AI infrastructure investments, surpassing the combined spending of the Apollo Programme and Manhattan Project.
The characterisation as a “Manhattan Project” deliberately evokes government-directed, large-scale industrial mobilisation, contrasting with the fragmented, market-led approach that previously dominated US AI policy.
Wall Street braces for tech pivot
Wall Street is already trying to make sense of what this all means.
Semiconductor giants like Nvidia, chip designers, the big cloud players such as Microsoft and AWS, data-centre REITs, and nuclear utilities are all being sorted into early winners and potential losers.
Chipmakers and AI hardware specialists look set to benefit first.
They stand to gain from fresh federal backing, faster approvals for new data-centre buildouts, and possible export relaxations for allied countries like Saudi Arabia, negotiations the Trump team has already begun.
On the flip side, companies staring down tighter export rules or heavy state-level regulation could feel some drag.
The energy sector, though, may see the biggest upside. AI data-centres are power-hungry, and researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory say they could chew through as much as 12 percent of all US electricity by 2028.
That surge has the administration pushing nuclear expansion and upgraded energy infrastructure, which could be a boost for uranium miners, fuel-cell makers, and transmission-line operators.
Firms like Vertiv Holdings, which handle cooling and power systems, are expected to see strong demand, and the ripple effects stretch into telecom, construction, and real-estate players tied to the physical buildout.
Timing is another pressure point. The announcement lands after a choppy few weeks for the AI sector, with Nvidia sliding 10 percent in November on valuation worries.
Investors are watching the Genesis rollout closely, especially the money behind it, the new permitting rules, and the administration’s export stance to reposition their AI infrastructure bets.
And if the White House follows through on its promised “one-approval process” and overrides conflicting state rules, projects that once stalled in regulatory limbo could move much faster, shaking up the competitive landscape across multiple industries.
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