TOI correspondent from Washington: A new principle is quietly reshaping America’s technology-industrial complex, transforming Silicon Valley from a playground of consumer apps to an arsenal of strategic hardware. A movement called “patriotic tech” argues that technology companies have a moral and national duty to engage with the state – especially in its intense rivalry with China. At the center of its latest, most controversial iteration are Indian-American entrepreneurs Sanket Pathak and Eric Trump, whose venture, Foundation Future Industries, has risen to prominence with a Pentagon-backed push into battlefield robotics.The firm, often referred to as Foundation Industries, recently received $24 million in research contracts from the Pentagon, as well as a coveted SBIR Phase 3 designation that clears the way for broader procurement. Its flagship product, a humanoid robot named “Phantom” is designed for use on the battlefield – breaching hostile environments, transporting weapons, and performing hazardous inspections that might otherwise endanger troops. Reports suggest an early deployment could take place in Ukraine, where such machines would handle high-risk logistics tasks.On TV appearances this week, Pathak and Eric Trump touted the technology’s “unlimited” potential in the military, industrial and even hospitality sectors. Trump, who serves as chief strategic adviser and a major financier, hailed robots as a force multiplier in modern warfare. But their partnership has also come under scrutiny, given the direct involvement of a family member of the sitting president in securing multimillion-dollar defense contracts amid widespread stories of corruption in Washington DC.The reader’s entry into this ecosystem is both surprising and controversial. A graduate of the University of Memphis with degrees in engineering and physics, he first rose to prominence as the founder of Synapse Financial Technologies, a fintech firm that collapsed into bankruptcy in 2024 amid a loss of up to $96 million in client funds. Thousands of users were affected and the episode cast a long shadow over his leadership.Now, reinvented as a defense entrepreneur, Pathak positions the Foundation as a major player in the robotics race against China. His association with the Trump family — and the administration’s broader “Pax Silica” strategy to secure supply chains between allies — have cemented his place in the patriot tech camp, even as critics question the speed and scale of his resurgence.The rise of Foundation Industries reflects the growing influence of the “patriotic technology” theory – a term popularized by Jacob Helberg and Alex Karp. Helberg, now Under Secretary of State, presented an intellectual framework in his book The Wires of War, arguing that technological supremacy is the new frontier of geopolitical conflict. Karp, chief executive of Palantir Technologies, went further, calling software and artificial intelligence the “hard power” of the 21st century in his manifesto The Technological Republic.At its core, patriot tech rests on three pillars: rejecting corporate neutrality, prioritizing hardware and defense innovation over consumer apps, and what proponents see as an existential challenge from China. This worldview has attracted a powerful coalition of investors and founders, including US veep Jadeveon patriarch Peter Thiel, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale and Palmer Luckey, whose company Anduril Industries has become a symbol of the shift toward militarized innovation.The movement has deepened divisions within Silicon Valley itself. While proponents argue that working with the military is a patriotic duty, critics – particularly within legacy tech companies like Google and Microsoft, both now led by Indian-Americans – have historically opposed such engagements on moral grounds. Yet the momentum seems to be changing. Private investment in defense technology reaches record levels in 2025, indicating that capital and increasingly policy are flowing towards the “patriotic” side.For India, the rise of figures like Pathak presents a complex narrative. On the one hand, it underlines the growing influence of the Indian diaspora in the cutting edge spheres of American power, dating back to the time when Aarti Prabhakar served as director of DARPA (United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). On the other hand, it highlights the ethical and geopolitical dilemmas of a world where technology is no longer neutral, but clearly intertwined with national interests. This would not be a big deal in India or China, where tech companies, especially in the public sector, are clearly aligned with the national interest. But in an America whose global corporations export technology around the world, it feels as if another door is closing.
