JPMorgan Pledges $10 Billion Investment in US National Security

America’s largest bank wants to shore up America’s defenses. 

JPMorgan Chase said Monday that it will invest $10 billion of its own money in companies it deems critical to US national security. That sound you hear is a thousand startups updating their pitch deck with potential defense applications.

In Defense of Bankers

“It has become painfully clear that the United States has allowed itself to become too reliant on unreliable sources of critical minerals, products and manufacturing, all of which are essential for our national security,” JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement announcing its plans.

Dimon said the lender, which has more than $4 trillion in assets under management, will focus its investments on supply chain independence, energy independence, defense and aerospace technologies, and finally “frontier” technologies like quantum computing and artificial intelligence (because if any area of the economy is hurting for boatloads of cash right now, it’s artificial intelligence). JPMorgan is “doing it independently” when it comes to its $10 billion spend, he said on a media call, in a nod to the recent strategic moves the Trump administration has taken to bolster companies it believes are vital to the national interest. In July, JPMorgan joined with Goldman Sachs to lend $1 billion to MP Materials, the largest rare earth producer in the US, at the same time that the Department of Defense became its largest shareholder. “I hope they’ll appreciate this,” Dimon said of the administration’s potential view of JPMorgan’s investment plan, which only starts with its own cash:

• The bank said it plans to facilitate and finance some $1.5 trillion for companies crucial to national security — 50% more than previously planned — in the next decade. That’s a lot of work ahead, raising investment pledges on the cocktail circuit.
• The market signaled confidence in Dimon’s administration-friendly plans, as shares in JPMorgan rose 2.3% Monday. The bank is reporting its latest quarterly earnings this morning, along with Goldman, Wells Fargo and Citigroup; analysts expect profits rose 6% at the country’s six biggest banks in the three months through September.

A Promising Start: Renewed geopolitical tensions have catapulted shares in US rare earth miners: MP Materials rose 21.3% on Monday, USA Rare Earth climbed 18.6% and Ramaco Resources added 11%.