Everything is going according to the plan. Or so it seems as far as Greenland is concerned. The island, which has become a major diplomatic flashpoint between Denmark and US President Donald Trump, is also seemingly a big attraction for a number of tech billionaires who are already preparing various plans around it. While Denmark bristles at Trump’s demand that the US should control and own Greenland, tech billionaires like Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel are busy investing money in companies that will economically exploit the natural resources at the pristine island.

Greenland is currently a Danish territory. However, it is close to the US, and American President Donald Trump has demanded that it should be sold to his country. In case Denmark refuses to do so, Trump has said that the US might even use military invasion to take control of Greenland.

While diplomats are trying to solve the tussle between Denmark and the US, tech billionaires are not waiting for the issue to be resolved. Instead, they already have big plans involving the natural resources in Greenland, and they are investing money into companies that are expected to be on the island in the coming months or years.

Greenland for rare earth minerals

According to Forbes, in 2019, just months after Trump first expressed his interest in buying Greenland, Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates invested in Kobold Metals, a firm that focuses on the exploration of rare earth metals in Greenland. The investments were made via Breakthrough Energy, a Bill Gates-led firm that focuses on green energy innovation.

Three years later, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman invested in the same firm via the venture capital firm Apollo Projects. And in December 2024, Breakthrough Energy participated in Kobold’s Series C investment round.

This is not all. As per CNBC, Critical Metals Corp, a company that has mining projects in Greenland, has revealed that it has investors who have also invested in the ‘Magnificent Seven’ US tech companies – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Tesla. Additionally, Critical Metals Corp CEO Tony Sage has stated that the company’s project in Greenland has received more buzz due to Trump’s remarks on Greenland.

Freedom City run by tech companies

But rare mineral earths, which are needed for silicon chips and smart devices, are not the only attraction for tech companies in Greenland. The tech bigwigs are also eyeing the island because they see its sparsely and pristine landscape as a canvas on which they can create a utopian city. While the details are sparse, the idea is that tech companies can establish a private city — for now named Freedom City by Donald Trump — that they can run according to their private rules and norms.

The concept of a network city refers to a private, non-democratic city ruled by a technological entrepreneurial government. A startup called Praxis plans to create such a city on the Danish territory, with the company CEO Dryden Brown trying to buy the island in 2023. Praxis is backed by PayPal billionaire Peter Thiel, who is close to the US vice president JD Vance, as well as the right-wing circle in the US. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, too, has invested in Praxis. The company so far has received hundreds of millions in seed funding, including from many people who are part of the tech industry.

Why are tech billionaires investing in Greenland?

Now that we know that big tech figures are pouring millions into the Danish territory at a time when US President Donald Trump is threatening to take over the island, we need to look at the reason for it.

Reports indicate that there have been substantial investments in proposed mining operations, and that is not a coincidence. Greenland is said to have large deposits of rare earth minerals. Amaroq, another mining company in the region, stated in November 2025 that its mining projects contained “commercial levels” of germanium and gallium. Two critical minerals for building advanced AI chips.

Greenland is said to have 1.5 million tons of rare earth minerals, the eighth-highest known reserve in the world. These minerals are crucial not just for AI chips, but even for other sectors, such as defence, robotics, electronics, and aerospace.

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