Yes, America Needs a Sovereign Wealth Fund
It must fuel existential innovation so that America can control its destiny (and, to an extent, the destiny of the free world).
👋 Hello! My mission with Beyond with Yon is to ignite awareness, inspire dialogue, and drive innovation to tackle humanity's greatest existential challenges. Join me on the journey to unf**ck the future and make miracles happen.
"A nation that does not invest in its future will find itself a spectator in the greatest moments of human progress." — Lee Kuan Yew (founding father of modern Singapore)
This week, President Trump ordered the creation of a US sovereign wealth fund. This move could cement America’s global leadership in critical industries or become another bureaucratic slush fund that fails to seize the moment. Which path we take depends entirely on how we use it.
The US has been asleep at the wheel while other nations—China, Singapore, Norway, and the UAE, to name a few, have built trillion-dollar investment funds to control their economic futures. We’ve let capital dictate strategy rather than using strategy to dictate capital.
That needs to change.
If done right, a US sovereign wealth fund could be the most powerful tool for driving existential innovation—transformative technological advancements that will define AI, biotech, quantum computing, energy, space, and national security for the next century.
The question isn’t whether America needs a sovereign wealth fund. The question is whether we have the vision to use it to its full potential.
At first glance, a US sovereign wealth fund might seem unnecessary. After all, America is the global capital of private innovation, and venture capitalists and tech founders are already pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. That said, I believe the market alone won’t solve our time's most significant existential challenges.
Here’s why:
1/ Deep-tech investments are high-risk and long-term—far beyond the typical venture capital or corporate investment horizon.
2/ Critical industries—like semiconductors, biotech, and energy—are increasingly weaponized by geopolitical rivals.
3/ AI, quantum, and synthetic biology are dual-use technologies—meaning whoever controls them controls the future of economies and warfare.
Meanwhile, other nations aren’t waiting.
→ China’s sovereign wealth fund, CIC, manages over $1.35 trillion and heavily funds AI, robotics, and energy infrastructure.
→ Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest at $1.8 trillion, actively invests in tech and renewable energy to future-proof its economy.
→ Saudi Arabia’s more than $700 billion Public Investment Fund aggressively invests in AI, biotech, and future industries.
And what about the US? We have no equivalent national investment strategy. Instead, we’ve been outsourcing our economic future to Wall Street, foreign sovereign wealth funds, and corporate lobbyists.
The US cannot afford to be a spectator in this century's existential industries. If we don’t invest in them, someone else will.
A US sovereign wealth fund cannot be just another rainy-day government account or a vehicle for political pet projects. Instead, it must be laser-focused on existential innovation when allocating capital:
1/ AI & Quantum Computing
These technologies are the arms race of the 21st Century. AI is moving faster than governance, regulation, and national security can keep up. Meanwhile, China is pouring billions into AI dominance and disrupting (cc
) investments in large language models.
Thus, a US sovereign wealth fund should:
✅ Fund national AI research infrastructure to ensure America remains at the frontier.
✅ Invest in sovereign AI compute resources (no nation should rely on private companies alone to develop its AI capabilities).
✅ Supercharge quantum computing development (breaking encryption will define the next phase of cybersecurity and intelligence).
If America loses AI leadership, we risk losing everything.
2. Biotech & Biosecurity
Biotech and biosecurity are the future of human health and warfare and are evolving from a medical science to a geopolitical weapon. Gene-editing, synthetic biology, and bioengineered pathogens could redefine warfare and global health security.
Thus, a US sovereign wealth fund should:
✅ Fund CRISPR and gene-editing breakthroughs for disease prevention and longevity.
✅ Create national biosecurity infrastructure to prevent pandemics and bioterrorism threats.
✅ Invest in lab-grown and precision-fermented food production to secure America’s food supply chain.
Biotech isn’t just about healthcare anymore. It’s about survival.
3. Energy & Climate Tech
These are key drivers of the next industrial revolution. Whoever dominates nuclear fusion, AI-driven energy grids, and next-gen battery technology increases their chances of controlling the next phase of global economic power.
Thus, a US sovereign wealth fund should:
✅ Fund nuclear fusion and SMR (small modular reactor) development to finally break fossil fuel dependency.
✅ Invest in AI-driven energy efficiency and smart grids to transform national infrastructure.
✅ Support next-generation battery and superconductor research to break China’s grip on global energy storage.
We cannot allow China to control rare earth minerals, battery production, and global energy infrastructure.
4. National Security & Defense Tech
The future of war will not be fought with soldiers but with drones, AI, cyberweapons, and autonomous defense systems.
Thus, a US sovereign wealth fund should:
✅ Fund AI-driven autonomous defense systems to outmatch adversaries in military tech.
✅ Invest in space-based security infrastructure (the next battlefield will be beyond land, sea, and air).
✅ Develop strategic defense against quantum cyberattacks (future wars will be won with algorithms, not bullets).
National security is now a technology race, and the US must be ahead.
Space: The Final Frontier
👋 Hello! My mission with Beyond with Yon is to ignite awareness, inspire dialogue, and drive innovation to tackle humanity's greatest existential challenges. Join me on the journey to unf**ck the future and make miracles happen.
The most obvious question is how the US will fund its sovereign wealth fund.
Well, there are multiple viable sources:
1/ Monetizing federal assets: The government controls trillions of underutilized land, resources, and infrastructure that could be leveraged.
2/ Redirecting tariff revenues: Tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada could directly fund strategic industries instead of going into the general budget.
3/ Public-private partnerships would allow high-net-worth individuals, sovereign allies, and corporations to co-invest in existential innovation with national security oversight.
The bottom line is that this isn’t a funding problem. It’s a vision problem.
Tariffs, Innovation, and America's Existential Future
👋 Hello! My mission with Beyond with Yon is to ignite awareness, inspire dialogue, and drive innovation to tackle humanity's greatest existential challenges. Join me on the journey to unf**ck the future and make miracles happen.
America must control its future.
A US sovereign wealth fund could be the most powerful tool for shaping the next century—or it could be just another bureaucratic failure. We can secure American leadership if we use it to dominate AI, biotech, and energy. If we mismanage it, we risk ceding the future to China, Saudi Arabia, and Silicon Valley oligarchs.
We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to take control of our technological, economic, and national security future, and a US sovereign wealth fund could play a critical role in fueling this achievement.
Thanks for reading,
Yon
Connect with me on Linkedin and X.
AI assistants were used to help research and edit this essay.
Excellent. Have you heard of ARIA? It's a good model for this sort of stuff. I've been working on models to do what I call 'align' innovation and believe that we need to match a new public investment with new models that change incentives accordingly.