1、 itif.org Tip of the Iceberg:Understanding the Full Depth of Big Techs Contribution to US Innovation and Competitiveness HILAL AKA|OCTOBER 2025 While critics attack“big tech”from many angles,these five companies develop frontier technologies that require large-scale development,build infrastructure
2、ranging from data centers to subsea cables,and create spillovers from health care to nuclear energy.KEY TAKEAWAYS Big tech companies invest more in R&D than both most countries and the federal governments non-defense research budget do,providing the scale necessary to pursue frontier technologies th
3、at require massive up-front investment.These companies demonstrate a unique willingness to sustain billions of dollars in losses on high-risk,long-horizon projects that traditional investors and even governments cannot support.Their open research model generates economy-wide benefits through publish
4、ed papers,open-source frameworks,and freely available datasets,enabling innovation across academia and industry.Technology investments generate substantial spillovers into health care,energy,agriculture,transportation,and defensefrom drug discovery to crop disease detection systems.Large U.S.tech co
5、mpanies provide critical private-sector capacity to compete with Chinas state-backed tech champions,which benefit from massive government subsidies and coordinated industrial strategies.Policy debates that focus only on big tech companies harms without recognizing these contributions risk underminin
6、g the capabilities supporting Americas technological leadership,economy,and security.INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY&INNOVATION FOUNDATION|OCTOBER 2025 PAGE 2 CONTENTS Key Takeaways.1 Introduction.3 Societal Benefits.5 Innovation Investment.5 Unique Financial Capacity for High-Risk R&D.5 Scale Creates Fundam