The US takes a 10% stake in Intel as part of Trump's big tech push

By Clare Duffy, Lisa Eadicicco, CNN
New York (CNN) — The United States government is making an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock, giving the Trump administration a roughly 10% stake in the struggling chipmaker, Intel and the president announced on Friday.
“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,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Friday.
The announcement came after Trump said earlier in the Oval Office on Friday that the CEO of Intel had agreed to such a deal, adding that he hopes to strike similar deals with other companies in the future.
“I said, I think you should pay us 10% of your company,” Trump said of his conversations with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. “And they said yes.”
Trump said the deal will was a win for both sides.
“I negotiated this Deal with Lip-Bu Tan, the Highly Respected Chief Executive Officer of the Company,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post announcing the deal. “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.”
The agreement is part of an effort to help boost semiconductor manufacturing in the United States and cement the US as a leader in the global chipmaking industry, a key priority of Trump’s second term so far.
Trump has touted his close ties to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and the AI chip giant’s investments in the US as political victories, using it as both a bargaining chip in trade talks with China and a means to pressure US companies like Intel to invest in the US. Trump said earlier this month that he plans to impose 100% tariffs on semiconductors coming into the country, except for companies that have committed to building products in the United States.
Two weeks ago, Trump called for Tan’s immediate resignation following reports about his alleged connections to China.
It is not immediately clear whether the Trump administration aims to be in strategic decision-making at the company. The deal gives the US government a passive ownership in Intel, according to the company’s press release, “with no Board representation or other governance or information rights.”
The remaining $5.7 billion that Intel had been awarded but not yet granted from the CHIPs and Science Act will fund the equity, along with $3.2 billion that Intel had been promised from the Department of Defense as part of the Secure Enclave program. The government is purchasing 433.3 million shares at a price of $20.47 per share, or a 9.9% stake in the company.
“As the only semiconductor company that does leading-edge logic R&D and manufacturing in the U.S., Intel is deeply committed to ensuring the world’s most advanced technologies are American made,” Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel, said in a press release.
Trump also said he would do more of these types of deals. His administration has been weighing opportunities to take similar stakes in various US companies in critical industries, two people familiar with the White House discussions on the matter told CNN last week.
The chipmaker’s stock (INTC) rose 7% on Friday.
After Trump met with Tan at the White House last week, reports emerged that the White House was considering the unusual move of taking an stake in Intel. Earlier this week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed the discussions, saying the deal would likely involve converting grant funding from the Biden-era CHIPS Act into an equity stake.
“America should get the benefit of the bargain,” Lutnick told CNBC.
On Friday following Trump’s announcement, Lutnick posted on X that “The United States of America now owns 10% of Intel, one of our great American technology companies.”
“This historic agreement strengthens US leadership in semiconductors, which will both grow our economy and help secure America’s technological edge,” Lutnick said in the post. “Thanks to Intel CEO (Lip-Bu Tan) for striking a deal that’s fair to Intel and fair to the American People.”
Like his predecessor, former President Joe Biden, Trump has said that increasing domestic production of semiconductors is a national security priority, given their central role in products ranging from cars and iPhones to weapons and medical machinery. Currently, most of the world’s chips are produced in Taiwan, although several major tech companies have been investing in increased chipmaking capacity in the United States in recent years.
Although it was once one of America’s most important tech companies, Intel has fallen behind rivals after failing to anticipate successive technology waves. Tan took over Intel in March and has been attempting to turn around the beleaguered company. Intel said last month that it had mostly completed plans to lay off 15% of its staff as part of Tan’s efforts to right the ship.
Japan’s SoftBank on Monday said it would invest $2 billion into Intel.
Bloomberg reported last week that the White House wants to help Intel follow through on plans to open a new US manufacturing facility in Ohio, which has been repeatedly delayed amid the company’s financial troubles. And Bessent confirmed on CNBC that an Intel stake would be intended to “help stabilize the company for chip production here in the US.”
But it’s not clear how Trump’s investment will help directly solve some of Intel’s core problems, namely that it struggles to attract customers with chip technology that’s less advanced than that of competitors like TSMC.
Bessent indicated that the White House doesn’t plan to pressure other US tech companies to buy Intel’s chips. He added that “the last thing we’re going to do is put pressure, is take the stake and then try to drum up business.”
It’s not the first unusual deal Trump has reached with US semiconductor companies. Chipmakers Nvidia and AMD said earlier this month that they would pay 15% from their chip sales in China to the government in exchange for export licenses, after the White House had previously said selling their products there posed a national security risk.
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