“Donald Trump’s election victory is seen as a blow to Silicon Valley, putting the presidency in the hands of a vocal critic of several big technology companies and an advocate of policies tech executives have said could hurt the industry’s development,” Trisha Thadani reports for The Wall Street Journal. “During his campaign, Mr. Trump didn’t offer a specific plan for how he would tackle technology policy… Meanwhile, Mr. Trump’s advocacy of tighter limits on immigration and trade alarmed an industry that prizes high-skilled immigrants and gets most of its revenue from overseas.”
“The electorate’s endorsement of Mr. Trump’s populist message, which broadly blamed elites for the problems of many disaffected Americans, could also spell trouble for Silicon Valley, which has spawned companies that delivered far more in profits and stock-market valuations than they have jobs for middle-class workers,” Thadani reports. “The GOP candidate received scant support from prominent technology executives other than entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel.”
“Alphabet enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the Obama administration and its chairman, Eric Schmidt, helped early development of Mrs. Clinton’s campaign. Mrs. Clinton’s technology policy blueprint broadly echoed the Obama administration’s, emphasizing a close relationship with the private sector,” Thadani reports. “Debates over encryption, privacy and other tech issues are likely to intensify during Mr. Trump’s presidency, which will begin as the tech industry appears on the cusp of disruptive innovations—in areas such as self-driving cars, robots and artificial intelligence—that would require new policy responses.”
“There could be a silver lining for tech companies, though. Scott Kessler of CFRA Research said Mr. Trump’s win, coupled with continued Republican control of Congress, increases the chances for changes to the tax code that could enable U.S. companies to bring home more overseas profits. U.S. companies have an estimated $2 trillion stashed overseas—including $216 billion in cash and investments held offshore by Apple as of Sept. 24,” Thadani reports. “And Mr. Trump is likely to adopt a light regulatory touch that could benefit tech businesses, said Robert Atkinson, president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. A Trump administration is unlikely to expand regulatory oversight on encryption, or in areas of innovation like artificial intelligence, meaning there will be “a lot more freedom to innovate with data and algorithms, so that is very good for tech,” Mr. Atkinson said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Peter Thiel is certainly sitting in the catbird seat today. Eric T. Mole is not.
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