Opening the Door to the Opportunities in the White House AI Action Plan | Insights

Key Points

The White House’s recent “AI Action Plan” lays out a blueprint for maintaining the U.S.’s role as the global leader in AI development and deployment. The plan’s multi-sector approach, led by government engagement, could create business opportunities across the economy.
Companies should review and track the various subsidies, tax breaks and other incentives that are proposed, and consider how they can take advantage of them if they are rolled out.
The plan sets relatively short timelines for government agencies to issue reports, make recommendations and promulgate rules on AI adoption, so companies need to be prepared to pivot quickly to capitalize on new opportunities as policy implementations are revealed in coming months.

During the Biden administration, boards of directors needed to be mindful of the potential for AI regulations that could constrain widespread AI adoption. This has now changed with the Trump administration, which has adopted an aggressive pro-innovation and antiregulation approach to AI, potentially creating new opportunities for businesses across multiple sectors.

The centerpiece of the Trump administration’s approach is an AI “action plan” released on July 23, 2025: “Winning the AI Race: America’s AI Action Plan” (Plan). The Plan provides a comprehensive federal roadmap to AI adoption, outlining over 90 near-term actions including ways to accelerate innovation, build out AI infrastructure and capture international AI leadership. Most importantly, the Plan envisions an activist federal policy to drive AI business opportunities, not only for AI developers, but also for companies across the economy. Boards will need to factor this new government approach into their risk/reward calculus when analyzing current AI use cases and when strategizing about future AI business opportunities.

Most of the commentary about the Plan has focused on its direct support of the AI sector and U.S. hegemony in AI, often overlooking the ancillary goals and incentives aimed at all U.S. enterprises.

While specific regulations need to be drafted and implemented, we set forth below some key areas to for companies to watch in the coming months:

Federal RFIs aimed at stimulating AI adoption in the private sector. Given the mandate to federal agencies to encourage AI adoption, we expect a number of Requests for Information (RFIs) in the coming months seeking industry comments about AI adoption and how the government can be supportive. Companies will want to monitor RFIs in their respective industries and weigh in on key topics to help shape government policies.
AI workforce training and upskilling programs. The Plan proposes federal funding and tax incentives for employer-sponsored retraining. Companies should monitor the introduction of these incentives, and when adopted, shape their training programs to take advantage of them. The Plan also calls for expansion of AI training in the education system, which could create opportunities for businesses servicing that sector.
AI infrastructure projects. The Plan’s focus on expanding the country’s AI infrastructure could create incentives for projects that build out data centers, modernize the U.S. electric grid, upgrade transmission systems, or deploy new energy sources (e.g., nuclear, geothermal), possibly creating openings for companies in a range of related industries.
Opportunities in next-generation manufacturing. The Plan calls on the federal government to prioritize investment in emerging technologies enabled by AI, such as drones, self-driving cars and robotics. Companies in related sectors should track incentives, research grants and other support the government may offer.
Opportunities in AI-enabled science. The plan calls for prioritizing investment in theoretical, computational and experimental research to “discover[] new and transformative paradigms that advance the capabilities of AI,” adding that a National AI R&D Strategic Plan is forthcoming. It also calls for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other federal agencies to develop research programs to understand better how large language models work. More broadly, it envisions a comprehensive set of initiatives to bring AI to bear across the sciences, mandating federal agencies to explore investing “in automated cloud-enabled labs for a range of scientific fields, including engineering, materials science, chemistry, biology and neuroscience,” built by either the private sector or the federal government, or in collaboration. If implemented, this will open up a variety of avenues for private sector players to participate.
Regulatory sandboxes and industry groups. The plan proposes regulatory sandboxes enabled by agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission and Food and Drug Administration, as well as domain-specific public-private efforts, to accelerate AI adoption across all sectors of the economy. Companies should consider how they can take advantage of these regulatory sandboxes to test new products, and how they can participate in industry groups to shape government policy.

The White House set tight deadlines for agencies to issue reports and formulate detailed policies, so opportunities may present themselves much faster than is normally the case after a broad policy pronouncement.

The Plan also includes a number of potential opportunities for AI developers:

Federal AI procurement contracts. The Plan calls on government agencies to adopt new AI tools and find ways to reduce regulatory barriers to its adoption. AI developers will want to monitor and plan responses to government RFIs and the procurement opportunities they are likely to create.
Development and operation of data centers. As noted, the Plan calls for the development of more robust AI infrastructure. AI developers and other technology companies may have the opportunity to leverage pro-innovation policies, such as expedited permitting processes, potential access to federal lands and grants for the AI infrastructure build-out.
Relaxed export controls. Companies that develop and export integrated AI solutions — including software, hardware and technical support — may be able to take advantage of new federal initiatives to promote American AI technology abroad.
Secure AI infrastructure for critical sectors. In response to the Plan’s call for the design and implementation of AI-specific cybersecurity solutions, there will likely be increased demand for those providing model red-teaming, secure-by-design features, incident response protocols and the like for critical infrastructure operators.
Partnerships for semiconductor manufacturing and AI tool integration. The Plan aims to stimulate collaboration with or supply to semiconductor manufacturers, focusing on integrating advanced AI tools into manufacturing processes and benefiting from CHIPS-funded projects. This would benefit chipmakers, their vendors and other companies adjacent to them.

Given that the Plan sets tight deadlines for government agencies to issue reports and formulate detailed policies, the foregoing opportunities may present themselves much faster than is normally the case after an administration makes a pronouncement about its policy goals. Companies should therefore monitor policy developments closely and be ready to respond quickly to opportunities to help frame policies, and to take advantage of the new business opportunities that may be created.

For boards, the imperative is not only to capture growth opportunities, but also to ensure management is prepared to manage the compliance, reputational and competitive risks as federal AI policy accelerates implementation on a tight timeline.

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