Before, during, and after President-elect Donald Trump's first term in office, he often clashed publicly with Big Tech companies and their seemingly liberal-leaning leaders -- but things appear to be different heading into Trump's second term.

Billionaire Apple CEO Tim Cook has reportedly donated $1 million from his personal fortune to help fund Trump's upcoming inauguration, according to Axios.

Cook's monetary support of Trump's inauguration was just one of several similar "seven-figure inauguration contributions" made recently by other Big Tech companies and/or their CEOs, likely in an effort to "build bridges to the incoming administration."

Cook supporting Trump

Axios cited unnamed sources as saying that Cook "believes the inauguration is a great American tradition," and as such has donated to it "in the spirit of unity."

It was further noted that the Apple CEO favors "participation" rather than "sitting on the sidelines" in terms of dealing with the federal government, and thus has made it a point to engage with lawmakers and policy deciders from both major parties.

That likely explains why Cook was willing to meet with President-elect Trump multiple times during his first term and, in the runup to his second term, has recently met with the incoming president at Trump Tower in New York, Trump's Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, and for a dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

Cook signaled his cooperative and supportive outlook on Nov. 6 with an X post that said, "Congratulations President Trump on your victory! We look forward to engaging with you and your administration to help make sure the United States continues to lead with and be fueled by ingenuity, innovation, and creativity."

Other companies, CEOs contributing to Trump's inauguration

Variety reported on the revelation from Axios about Tim Cook's donation to President-elect Trump's inauguration and noted that the Apple CEO was not alone in contributing to the quadrennial swearing-in ceremony and related events.

Other wealthy Big Tech executives have recently met with Trump for dinners at Mar-a-Lago or one of his other properties, including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, and Netflix's Ted Sarandos, among others.

Now tech companies like Amazon and Meta have donated $1 million to the inauguration, and others like OpenAI head Sam Altman have pledged to contribute a similar amount.

Likewise, automotive giants like Ford, GM, and Toyota, along with finance industry firms like Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and some cryptocurrency exchanges have also chipped in around $1 million each to help fund Trump's inauguration.

Big Tech aims to be on good terms with Trump

The Associated Press reported last month on the apparent effort of Big Tech companies and CEOs to cozy up to President-elect Trump with congratulatory remarks, personal meetings, and contributions, and sought to explain what they may hope to gain from doing so.

In essence, it boils down to wanting to have a seat at the table to possibly influence policies dealing with issues like the further development of artificial intelligence, fewer regulations on relevant industries, increased energy supply with reduced costs, protection from antitrust lawsuits and the European Union, and just generally "making amends" after the combative first term and subsequent interlude before term two.

"The first term, everybody was fighting me," Trump joked at a Mar-a-Lago press conference last month. "In this term, everybody wants to be my friend."