President Trump’s recent statements have claimed up to $20 trillion is being invested in American companies and industries by other countries, often after bullying by his trade strategies. He was quoted on X: “We have more money being spent from outside countries and companies. Over $20 trillion. That’s five, six, seven times higher than any country. Not just here, any country ever.” A White House “tracker” of foreign investment lists $5 trillion in commitments from U.A.E., Qatar, Japan, Saudi Arabia, India and South Korea alone.

But the “New Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)” data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows that its 2025 total was $232 billion, lower in real terms than any year before the COVID pandemic crisis. And some 94% of this new FDI was mobilized from abroad to take over existing U.S. companies. Just 2% created new businesses and 4% caused the expansion of existing U.S. capacity owned by foreign firms, according to the BEA’s data.

What has absolutely spiked is spending on construction of U.S. data centers; whether funded by U.S. or foreign “hyperscalers” (very large tech/AI companies), it has risen by 823% since the start of 2021, overcoming both widespread popular resistance and shortages of construction labor. Power plant construction for these data centers has also been pulled up; but spending on factory construction is actually almost 20% lower, through the Summer months, than in 2025.

Inflation has struck the construction industry along with the AI boom. The cost of construction materials was up in August by 10% over the same month in 2025.