Professor Roberto Gonzalez, an anthropologist at San Jose State University, reported that the US military-industrial complex is rapidly expanding from Washington D.C. to Silicon Valley. According to the report, the US Department of Defense budget is increasing the adoption of systems utilizing AI (Artificial Intelligence) in addition to traditional weapons systems. As a result, Big Tech companies, venture capital firms, and private equity firms are profiting from defense contracts worth billions of dollars.
NewsRoberto GonzalezUnited States Department of Defense
US Department of Defense Spending Expands to Big Tech and Defense Tech Firms
This article is a translation. Read the Japanese original
Data from the non-profit research organization Tech Inquiry shows that between 2018 and 2022, Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet (Google's parent company) were awarded contracts totaling approximately $28 billion. The breakdown consists of $13.5 billion for Microsoft, $10.2 billion for Amazon, and $4.3 billion for Alphabet. Furthermore, it was revealed that the upper limit of the top five contracts signed with major tech companies between 2019 and 2022 reached at least $53 billion in total.
Investment in defense tech startups is also increasing. It is reported that the amount invested by venture capital between 2021 and 2023 reached approximately $100 billion, exceeding the total of the previous seven years by 40%.
Sources
- Silicon Valley Is Transforming the Military-Industrial Complex （Hacker News Frontpage, 2026-09-10）