The decision by President Trump to grant Saudi Arabia access to American nuclear technology aligns with his administration’s push to accelerate domestically backed nuclear power projects around the world.
But it may also contribute to a major trend in Mr. Trump’s second term: allowing the government to help enrich the president, his family, advisers and others in his orbit.
There is no evidence at this point that Mr. Trump’s friends or family helped orchestrate the Saudi nuclear deal. Yet a number of the president’s allies and relatives, including members of his cabinet, stand to benefit if his big bet on nuclear power pays off. Certain investors with ties to these deals are positioned to profit, even if the delivery of large new loads of nuclear-powered electricity remains years away.
The overarching goal is to generate more electricity as the demand surges worldwide, driven by a data-center building boom and growing consumer consumption. Investors are financing traditional, large-scale nuclear power plants along with a new technical approach called small modular reactors. Others are mining the uranium needed to power nuclear plants. Some others are vying to build those plants.
In some cases, how the Trump family or the president’s allies could potentially gain from the president’s nuclear plans is straightforward. In others, no direct line can be drawn, but there are such overlapping business ties that it is hard to separate the policy decisions from the potential personal benefits.
For example, Westinghouse, the Canadian-owned but U.S.-based company that developed the technology behind the AP1000, a large-scale reactor whose design has been used in China and for plans in Eastern Europe, is expected to be part of the deal, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The majority owner of Westinghouse is Brookfield Asset Management, one of North America’s largest commercial real estate owners. It is a frequent business partner with Newmark, the real-estate firm run and owned in part by the sons of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Taylor Rogers, a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement that Mr. Trump’s position is about increasing electricity supply, rather than helping any companies with which he or his circle might have connections.
“Thanks to President Trump’s leadership, our country has seen historic advancements for civilian nuclear energy development, innovation, and technology, which is a critical component to meet the nation’s growing energy needs while keeping prices low for families and businesses,” she said. “The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read.”
Westinghouse’s chief executive, Dan Sumner, in a statement called the Saudi deal a “landmark step” that “expands opportunities for U.S. industry and workers.”
Kerrie McHugh, a Brookfield spokeswoman, said that the company, with more than $1 trillion in assets, has an enormous number of business partners and “robust processes in place to manage any potential conflicts, consistent with our fiduciary responsibilities.”
Officials at the Energy Department did not respond to requests for comment.
Here is a look at Mr. Trump and some of those with ties to him that could benefit from his nuclear goals.
The president and his family
Trump Media & Technology Group, the money-losing company that hosts Truth Social, the platform where Mr. Trump first posts most of his White House announcements, has moved recently to add — incongruously — nuclear energy to its portfolio.
The company announced in December that it intends to merge as part of a $6 billion deal with a nuclear fusion start-up called TAE Technologies. During Mr. Trump’s first term, and again last year, TAE won financial support from the Energy Department’s Office of Fusion Energy Science.
The president’s shares in the publicly traded Trump Media are worth about $875 million as of earlier this month, according to other public filings. The value of those shares could grow if the TAE merger proves a success.
Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr.’s nuclear investments
Separately, two of the president’s sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., in November became part owners through an investment partnership in a company called Quantum Leap Energy, which is working to develop certain isotopes that can be used as nuclear fuel.
Quantum Leap reached a deal last year with a Texas-based company co-founded by Rick Perry, who was energy secretary during Mr. Trump’s first term and is now seeking federal assistance to build nuclear power plants in Texas. Mr. Perry did not respond to requests for comment.
Asked about any potential conflict of interest, a spokesman for Donald Trump Jr. said that he was working on deals that were good for the country.
“Don is a lifelong businessman and investor who tends to invest in companies that align with his America First worldview,” said the spokesman, Andy Surabian. “He does not interface with anyone in the Federal Government on behalf of any company that he invests in.”
Eric Trump did not respond to requests for comment.
Jared Kushner’s dealings with Saudi Arabia
Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has a complicated relationship with those involved in the recent nuclear agreement.
He participated in discussions related to Saudi Arabia’s push for access to U.S. nuclear technology when he worked at the White House during Mr. Trump’s first term. He also helped establish agreements between Israel and multiple Arab countries to normalize their relationship, called the Abraham Accords.
Now, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is one of Mr. Kushner’s biggest backers. The fund committed $2 billion to Mr. Kushner’s investment firm, Affinity Partners, shortly after he left the White House in 2021. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, an ally during Mr. Kushner’s government tenure, helped convince the sovereign wealth fund to provide the money.
It is unclear whether Affinity will invest in Saudi’s nuclear energy initiative. For now, the kingdom expects to finance the effort itself, according to an official with knowledge of its plans.
On Thursday, the Trump family’s connections to all of this were on display when the president announced on Truth Social that the nuclear agreement would be contingent on Saudi Arabia joining the Abraham Accords.
The Cabinet
The Commerce and Energy Departments have been at the forefront of pushing Mr. Trump’s nuclear agenda. Both are led by secretaries who have either direct ties to the industry or family ones.
Mr. Lutnick has been leading an effort to invest U.S. tax dollars into companies in the nuclear sector, including Westinghouse. Companies his family members help run could profit.
Cantor Fitzgerald, the investment bank that Mr. Lutnick led until he was hired by Mr. Trump, is at the center. Cantor has over the last year helped several companies in the nuclear sector raise money, which generates millions of dollars in fees for the firm.
Among them are Oklo, Energy Fuels Inc and enCore Energy. Each is seeking permits, financial assistance or Trump administration contracts for its nuclear projects.
Oklo, based in Santa Clara, Calif., in 2019 became the first nuclear power company to receive site-use permit from the Energy Department for commercial operations.
Oklo also has links to Chris Wright, the energy secretary. Mr. Wright was a director at Oklo until he joined Mr. Trump’s cabinet. That connection spurred a Democratic lawmaker to complain to the White House that Oklo stood to benefit improperly from government nuclear permits and programs.
Bonita Chester, Oklo’s head of communications, said in a statement that Mr. Wright has had “no role in Oklo’s governance” since resigning from the board.
“We’ve worked with leaders across both sides of the aisle to advance policies that accelerate the deployment of safe, commercially viable nuclear technology,” she added.
Energy Fuels, which Cantor helped last year raise money to expand its mining efforts, disclosed in June it is slated to get a $725 million federal loan from the Pentagon.
The company — one of the top U.S. producers of natural uranium concentrate sold to nuclear plants — has noted to The Times that it began working with Cantor before Mr. Trump’s second presidency. It declined to comment.
The network goes beyond these smaller nuclear companies.
Westinghouse, in which the U.S. government has an option to take an equity stake,
is at the fulcrum of the proposed nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, as the plan is for its government to back the construction of multiple AP1000 reactors there.
The Trump administration in October announced plans to partner with Westinghouse to build $80 billion worth of its nuclear reactors across the United States, a deal negotiated in part by Mr. Lutnick.
“Together with Westinghouse we will unleash American energy,” Mr. Lutnick said in a statement then. “This partnership embodies the bold vision of President Trump — to rebuild our energy sovereignty, create high-paying jobs, and drive America to the forefront of the nuclear renaissance.”
Newmark has made money over the past year by helping finance billions of dollars worth of United States data center projects that were promoted by Mr. Lutnick and Mr. Trump, as The Times previously reported.
Blake Ruppe, a Commerce Department spokesman, said that Mr. Lutnick has complied with all requirements that he divest from his family companies. “There is no conflict of interest,” he said in a statement. “It is knowingly false to suggest otherwise.”
A prominent Trump donor: Peter Thiel
Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and entrepreneur, was an early political backer of Mr. Trump and helped Vice President JD Vance begin his political career, serving as one of the largest donors to Mr. Vance’s Senate race in 2022.
Mr. Thiel is a major investor in General Matter, a U.S. nuclear fuel company focused on producing what is known as high-assay low-enriched uranium. A giant load of new nuclear fuel will be needed if all these new nuclear power plants are built, and General Matter is positioned to benefit.
The Energy Department in January awarded General Matter a $900 million contract to build out its nuclear fuel effort. The U.S. Export-Import Bank, where Mr. Lutnick is a board member, also issued up to $4.2 billion in “letters of interest” to finance the export of General Matter’s domestically enriched uranium to nuclear operators in South Korea and Japan.
Mr. Thiel did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for General Matter said that the federal support started under the Biden administration and that the company had not engaged with Mr. Vance since he became vice president.
“Our contract is 100 percent milestone based, so we don’t get paid until we fulfill our commitments to taxpayers,” Lee Robinson, a co-founder of General Matter, said in a statement.
The tech titans
As the explosive growth of artificial intelligence strains the nation’s power capacity, tech companies are turning to nuclear energy. Among them are Amazon, Meta, Google and Microsoft — all of which have backed at least some of Mr. Trump’s energy policy goals.
Each of those companies donated $1 million to Mr. Trump’s 2025 inauguration, placing some of their executives — including the Amazon founder and executive chair Jeff Bezos, Meta’s chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, and Google’s chief executive, Sundar Pichai — in prominent seats at the event.
The companies have supported the White House in other ways.
Amazon spent $40 million to acquire a documentary on Melania Trump, the first lady, generating a licensing fee of more than $10 million.
Amazon, Google, Microsoft and OpenAI — whose chief executive, Sam Altman, personally donated $1 million to the inauguration — have helped finance an Energy Department project called Genesis Mission, which will use AI to further the nation’s energy goals, among other objectives.
In announcing its $60 million investment in the program on July 22, Chris Barry, who runs Microsoft’s public sector business, called Genesis Mission “exactly the kind of moonshot that defines American science.” A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on the Saudi deal.
A spokeswoman for Meta, which operates several data centers overseas, declined to comment on whether the company might benefit from the Saudi nuclear deal. Amazon, Google and OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.
Ivan Penn and Ana Swanson contributed reporting.