CrossGov.com Follows Washington as Buyer and Shareholder: Intel and Rare Earth Stakes, $1 AI Deals and 538 Certified Cloud Services

The federal government is the biggest customer in the American economy. Lately it’s also become a shareholder, a price-setter and, in a few industries, something close to a business partner. Most business coverage still treats Washington as the referee. CrossGov.com treats it as a player, which is the more accurate picture in 2026.

CrossGov covers US government at every level, federal first, and a good chunk of its archive sits right where policy turns into contracts, equity and market share. If you write about business, tech or media, that’s the part worth reading.

The government on the cap table

Start with ownership. In July 2025 the Pentagon became a major shareholder in the company running the only operating rare earth mine in the country, and CrossGov set that move against how China and the EU back their own minerals companies. The chips side got the same treatment: a US stake in Intel next to Europe’s Chips Act 2.0 draft, Japan’s money for Rapidus and Korea’s new law.

Not every deal closes. The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac IPO has stalled while Treasury’s claim grows to $234 billion and the shares have lost more than half their value. Investors who bought the privatisation story might want to read that one twice.

Selling to Washington

Then there’s the buying. GSA has been striking OneGov deals with AI companies, and those agreements are now moving past the famous $1 pricing while procurement consolidates and the Federal Acquisition Regulation gets rewritten. Anyone selling software to the government should also note that FedRAMP 20x has now certified 538 cloud services on a $10 million budget. Europe still has no common equivalent.

CrossGov likes to put the US buying model next to Britain’s, so there’s a piece on GSA’s $50 billion schedule versus G-Cloud. And for balance there’s the cautionary file: why government IT projects fail, from HealthCare.gov and the FBI’s Virtual Case File to Canada’s Phoenix pay system, the Post Office’s Horizon and Australia’s Robodebt. Read it before you bid.

Tech rules, set by whoever moves first

For media and platform watchers, CrossGov tracks the rulebook fights. Washington is fighting the states over AI rules while the EU pushes its high-risk AI obligations back to December 2027. US visa bans and tariff threats are running into Europe’s Digital Services Act fines on X and Temu. And Brussels is drafting a Cloud and AI Development Act that could lock US providers out of sensitive public contracts, which is a trade story wearing a tech costume.

TikTok gets its own thread. The US joint venture still runs on ByteDance’s licensed algorithm, and the company skipped a House China committee hearing. So much for the divestiture.

Worth the bookmark

Business pages tend to cover Washington by press release. CrossGov covers it by contract, stake and certification count, which is closer to how money actually moves. Start in the archive and pick an industry.

Washington is in the market now. Cover it that way.