PRIME STAKE

Trump Abandons Free Markets to Seize Stake in Major Company

The president announced Friday that the U.S. government now owns a 10% stake in Intel.

The United States government has gone corporate.

“It is my Great Honor to report that the United States of America now fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

He continued, “I negotiated this Deal with Lip-Bu Tan, the Highly Respected Chief Executive Officer of the Company. The United States paid nothing for these Shares, and the Shares are now valued at approximately $11 Billion Dollars. This is a great Deal for America and, also, a great Deal for INTEL. Building leading edge Semiconductors and Chips, which is what INTEL does, is fundamental to the future of our Nation.”

The deal works out to be worth roughly $8.9 billion, but as Intel’s own press release explains, much of it was money that the company was already due to receive from the federal government anyway.

”The government’s equity stake will be funded by the remaining $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded, but not yet paid, to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and $3.2 billion awarded to the company as part of the Secure Enclave program,” the release states.

The $8.9 billion investment is in addition to $2.2 billion the company has already received in CHIPS grants. The CHIPS and Science Act was signed into law in 2022 in an attempt to revive domestic semiconductor manufacturing. Intel is the world’s third-largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue.

At a press conference on Friday afternoon, Trump recounted his conversation with Intel CEO Tan: “I said, ‘I think it would be good having the United States as your partner.’ He agreed, and they’ve agreed to do it. And I think it’s a great deal for them.”

The announcement comes less than a month after Trump demanded Tan’s resignation in an incendiary Truth Social post.

”The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem,” the president wrote, in what was widely considered a reference to Tan’s investments in Chinese companies.

A day prior, Trump had threatened to impose a 100 percent tariff on semiconductors produced offshore. He had also previously expressed a desire to “get rid of the CHIP Act,” and had been pressuring chipmakers to increase their investments in the U.S. in order to access government grants.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also celebrated the deal on X, sharing a photo of himself with Tan and writing, “BIG NEWS: The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel, one of our great American technology companies.”

”This historic agreement strengthens U.S. leadership in semiconductors, which will both grow our economy and help secure America’s technological edge. Thanks to Intel CEO @LipBuTan1 for striking a deal that’s fair to Intel and fair to the American People.”

The agreement to sell the U.S. government a stake in Intel is one of the most significant government interventions in a private company since the 2008 financial crisis, when President George W. Bush announced a $17.4 billion bailout of the automotive industry.

Earlier this month, Trump struck a deal with AI chip company Nvidia to allow the company to sell its H2O chips to China in exchange for giving the U.S. government 15 percent of its sales.

Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence expressed concerns about his former boss’ deals with both companies, telling Bloomberg on Thursday, “I have great concerns about having the U.S. government take a position in, with gold shares in Nippon Steel or just the latest discussions about taking a percent of Intel.”

“This was not a strategy that we employed during the Trump-Pence years.”

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Catherine BourisReporter

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