{"id":866574,"date":"2025-08-20T21:13:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T02:13:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/20\/trump-in-talks-for-government-to-take-10-stake-in-intel-what-we-know\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T21:13:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T02:13:22","slug":"trump-in-talks-for-government-to-take-10-stake-in-intel-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/20\/trump-in-talks-for-government-to-take-10-stake-in-intel-what-we-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump in talks for government to take 10% stake in Intel: What we know"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump wants the U.S. government to own a piece of Intel<\/a>, less than two weeks after demanding the Silicon Valley pioneer dump the CEO that was hired to turn around the slumping chipmaker. If the goal is realized, the investment would deepen the Trump administration\u2019s involvement in the computer industry as the president ramps up the pressure for more U.S. companies to manufacture products domestically instead of relying on overseas suppliers.<\/p>\n

\n

What\u2019s happening?<\/h4>\n

The Trump administration is in talks to secure a 10% stake in Intel in exchange for converting government grants that were pledged to Intel under President Joe Biden. If the deal is completed, the U.S. government would become one of Intel\u2019s largest shareholders and blur the traditional lines separating the public sector and private sector in a country that remains the world\u2019s largest economy.<\/p>\n

Why would Trump do this?<\/h4>\n

In his second term, Trump has been leveraging his power to reprogram the operations of major computer chip companies. The administration is requiring Nvidia<\/a> and Advanced Micro Devices<\/a>, two companies whose chips are helping to power the craze around artificial intelligence, to pay a 15% commission on their sales of chips in China in exchange for export licenses.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s interest in Intel is also being driven by his desire to boost chip production in the U.S., which has been a focal point of the trade war that he has been waging throughout the world. By lessening the country\u2019s dependence on chips manufactured overseas, the president believes the U.S. will be better positioned to maintain its technological lead on China in the race to create artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n

Didn\u2019t Trump want Intel\u2019s CEO to quit?<\/h4>\n

That\u2019s what the president said August 7\u00a0in an unequivocal post calling<\/a>\u00a0for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign less than five months after the Santa Clara, California, company\u00a0hired him<\/a>. The demand was triggered by reports raising national security concerns about Tan\u2019s past investments in Chinese tech companies while he was a venture capitalist. But Trump backed off after Tan professed his allegiance to the U.S.\u00a0in a public letter<\/a>\u00a0to Intel employees and went to the White House to meet with the president, who applauded the Intel CEO for having an \u201camazing story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why would Intel do a deal?<\/h4>\n

The company isn\u2019t commenting about the possibility of the U.S. government becoming a major shareholder, but Intel may have little choice because it is currently dealing from a position of weakness. After enjoying decades of growth while its processors powered the personal computer boom, the company fell into a slump after missing the shift to the mobile computing era unleashed by the iPhone\u2019s 2007 debut.<\/p>\n

Intel has fallen even farther behind in recent years during an artificial intelligence craze that has been a boon for Nvidia and AMD. The company lost nearly $19 billion last year and another $3.7 billion in the first six months of this year, prompting Tan to undertake a cost-cutting spree. By the end of this year, Tan\u00a0expects Intel to have about 75,000 workers<\/a>, a 25% reduction from the end of last year.<\/p>\n

Would this deal be unusual?<\/h4>\n

Although rare, it\u2019s not unprecedented for the U.S. government to become a significant shareholder in a prominent company. One of the most notable instances occurred during the Great Recession in 2008 when the government injected nearly $50 billion into General Motors<\/a> in return for a roughly 60% stake in the automaker at a time it was on the verge of bankruptcy. The government ended up with a roughly $10 billion loss after it sold its stock in GM.<\/p>\n

Would the government run Intel?<\/h4>\n

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC during a Tuesday interview that the government has no intention of meddling in Intel\u2019s business, and will have its hands tied by holding non-voting shares in the company. But some analysts wonder if the Trump administration\u2019s financial ties to Intel might prod more companies looking to curry favor with the president to increase their orders for the company\u2019s chips.<\/p>\n

What government grants does Intel receive?<\/h4>\n

Intel was among the biggest beneficiaries of the Biden administration\u2019s\u00a0CHIPS and Science Act<\/a>, but it hasn\u2019t been able to revive its fortunes while falling behind on construction projects spawned by the program.<\/p>\n

The company has received about $2.2 billion of the $7.8 billion pledged under the incentives program \u2014 money that Lutnick derided as a \u201cgiveaway\u201d that would better serve U.S. taxpayers if it\u2019s turned into Intel stock. \u201cWe think America should get the benefit of the bargain,\u201d Lutnick told CNBC. \u201cIt\u2019s obvious that it\u2019s the right move to make.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Introducing the 2025 Fortune Global 500<\/strong>, the definitive ranking of the biggest companies in the world. Explore this year’s list.<\/a><\/p>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Michael Liedtke, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump wants the U.S. government to own a piece of Intel, less than two weeks after demanding the Silicon Valley pioneer dump the CEO that was hired to turn around the slumping chipmaker. If the goal is realized, the investment would deepen the Trump administration\u2019s involvement in the computer industry as the president<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":866575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1607,4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-866574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-talks","8":"category-trump"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=866574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/866575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}