President Trump Seeks 10% Stake in Intel, Potential Milestone in US Chipmaking Push
In an unprecedented move, President Trump disclosed on Friday that he has requested a 10% ownership stake in Intel Corporation from CEO Lip-Bu Tan during a private meeting at the White House.
“He’s agreed, and I believe it’s a fantastic deal for them,” Trump told reporters. “He came seeking to retain his position, and instead, he’s offering us $10 billion for the United States.”
As of press time, neither Intel nor the White House press team have commented on this potential business transaction.
Such an arrangement would represent a significant departure from standard practices – marking a potential intensification in the Trump administration’s push to encourage domestic chip manufacturing and setting a new precedent for CEOs offering unprecedented control to the President over their companies.
The specific details of how such a deal might be structured remain unclear, as do Intel’s board and shareholders’ responses.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick hinted at the possibility of converting government grants allocated under the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act into equity during an interview with CNBC earlier this week. This legislation authorizes a total of approximately $53 billion in federal funding for chip-related activities.
“We’ll honor the previously committed funds under the Biden administration, and we’ll receive equity in return,” Lutnick explained, emphasizing that the stake wouldn’t grant the government voting or governance rights at Intel.
Following Trump’s remarks, Lutnick posted on social media that the U.S. would now hold a 10% stake in Intel and referred to it as a “historic agreement.”
Intel, once a dominant force in chip production, has faced numerous challenges in recent years. The company has struggled to meet growing data center demand for chips used in building artificial intelligence models known as Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). In this sector, Intel’s Santa Clara, California-based neighbor Nvidia currently stands as the world’s largest company, boasting a market capitalization of over $4 trillion.
(Earlier in August, Trump announced that Nvidia would allocate 15% of its H20 chip revenues from sales in China to the U.S. government, in exchange for permission to sell these chips in China. An Nvidia spokesperson declined to comment on the 15% figure when approached by NPR, and in a statement, the company stated that it follows “regulations set by the U.S. government for our participation in global markets.”)
Intel’s revenue has been on a downward trend, leading to a decrease in its market capitalization. This year, the company reported net losses during the first two quarters.
President Trump publicly criticized Intel CEO Tan earlier this month, urging him to resign following reports of his investments in various Chinese tech companies. A few days later, Tan met with the President at the White House, which Trump described as an “interesting” encounter and praised Tan as a “success.”
Intel plans to invest more than $28 billion in two chip production facilities in Ohio; however, these plans have encountered delays, and analysts question whether there will be sufficient demand for the chips that the company eventually produces.
Chris Miller, a professor at Tufts University and author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology, expressed concern about the connection between discussions on equity financing and questions regarding the customers for Intel’s upcoming factories and manufacturing processes.
“One of the questions we still haven’t seen answers to yet in the public sphere is how this discussion about equity financing relates to the question of who will be the customer for Intel’s factories that are being built and their manufacturing processes that are being brought online,” Miller said. He added that it was too early to determine whether a potential equity deal would benefit Intel or complicate its efforts to reclaim market leadership.