Welcome to The Hill’s Technology newsletter {beacon} Technology Technology   The Big Story  TikTok buyers line up with Trump, China open to deal Potential TikTok buyers are lining up

TikTok got a short reprieve to make a deal. Project Stargate, a $500B AI plan from OpenAI, Oracle, and Softbank, pushes Musk, Microsoft, aside. Google buys HTC VR tech.

TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew was seated on the dais at Trump’s inauguration Monday, signaling a budding alliance with the president. Massie, the Republican who co-sponsored the bill to repeal the ban, posted a photo he’d taken of Chew from the crowd on X. “Tick tock, the TikTok ban is about to end,” Massie wrote.

Here are the top takeaways from Trump’s press conference. One of Trump’s first executive actions as the 47th president of the nation was to grant pardons and commutations to all of the defendants convicted over the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, sparking criticism from Democrats who denounced the move.

The inauguration guestlist features unlikely names including MMA fighter Conor McGregor and influencer Jake Paul.

This includes the full specs and color options for the entire three-phone lineup (made up of the Galaxy S25, Galaxy S25 Plus, and Galaxy S25 Ultra), details of AI enhancements, including a new morning brief feature, and even the Samsung Galaxy S25's jazzy new ringtone (which Samsung itself released early).

TikTok CEO's is expected to be seated on the dais for the inauguration along with tech billionaires Elon Musk, who is CEO of SpaceX, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Amazon ...

The president said he’s also open to another tech giant to acquire TikTok: Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle. Ellison was present at the White House for a $500 billion AI infrastructure partnership between the Trump administration and OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle. Oracle, a software company, houses most of TikTok's servers

Four days before Donald Trump's second presidential inauguration, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shared on X a threatening letter he had received from Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.) and Michael Bennett (D–Col.). In the letter, the senators expressed dismay that the tech entrepreneur had donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund.

ABC News has live coverage of the inauguration of President Trump beginning at 6 a.m. until approximately 11 p.m.

The NC Supreme Court race is still without a winner after the Republican candidate challenged the legitimacy of 60,000 votes.