Record lobbying quarters for OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia
Where it stands: OpenAI, Anthropic and Nvidia each spent more on federal lobbying in July-September 2026 than in any previous quarter: Nvidia $2.2 million, Anthropic $2.1 million and OpenAI $1.5 million. Microsoft has spent at least $2 million a quarter since 2021, so those sums are not unusual for Big Tech, but it was the first time the labs' own federal lobbying line had appeared, and it came in the busiest AI-policy quarter so far. Watch next quarter's filings and whether spending scales with the capex boom.
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- 2026-10-22 (~11:50 AM ET, The Verge — theverge.com/policy): federal disclosure filings show Anthropic, OpenAI and Nvidia each logged their highest-spending lobbying quarter between July and September 2026 — Nvidia at $2.2 million, then Anthropic's $2.1 million and OpenAI's $1.5 million. Beside incumbent Big Tech operations the sums are not out of the ordinary — Microsoft has spent at least $2 million a quarter going back to 2021. Debut thread: the labs' own federal lobbying line had not been on the record before; the spike lands in the busiest AI-policy quarter on record. Watch: next quarter's filings, named asks in the disclosure text, and whether spend scales with the capex boom.