Silicon Valley Heads to Washington

Big Tech and big government

The flow of Silicon Valley executives President-elect Donald Trump wants to join his administration is becoming a torrent after he announced more picks over the weekend.

It’s the latest evidence of tech heavyweights’ growing influence on Washington, and the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is at the center of it.

Trump tapped a pair of the V.C.’s executives to high-profile roles. He named Scott Kupor, a managing partner at the firm, to be director of the Office of Personnel Management — a role that could make him crucial to streamlining staffing across the federal government.

Trump also appointed Sriram Krishnan, until recently a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, to advise on artificial intelligence policy. Krishnan is a confidant of Elon Musk, and host of a widely followed tech podcast with his wife. Krishnan will work with David Sacks, the Silicon Valley investor who was an early backer of Trump, and who has been named the White House crypto and A.I. czar.

Other tech names picked by Trump:

• Emil Michael, a former Uber executive, to be under secretary for research and engineering (he will have to be confirmed by the Senate).

• Michael Kratsios, the managing director of Scale AI, a data start-up, will also advise Sacks.

The moves come as the tech sector builds bridges with Trump. Silicon Valley has had a reputation of favoring Democrats, but during the election it was home to many of the loudest pro-Trump voices. Since the election, a parade of tech C.E.O.s has traveled to Mar-a-Lago to try to win over the president-elect.

Big Silicon Valley Democrats liked the choices, too. Aaron Levie, the C.E.O. of the data storage company Box who supported Vice President Kamala Harris for president, called the latest picks “very strong.” Other Big Tech luminaries, including Musk and Demis Hassabis, Google’s A.I. chief, were effusive about Krishnan’s appointment.