The Intel contract is one of the biggest government interventions in the private sector to help the US automotive industry save bailouts under President Obama.
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WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is in talks to help the federal government take a 10% stake in troubled chipmaker Intel, White House officials confirmed.
The debate that has led Intel to struggle to open planned manufacturing centers in the US will be one of the biggest government interventions in the private industry since bailing out the US automotive industry under former President Barack Obama.
“This is a creative idea that has never been made before to ensure that we get something for American taxpayers while reassuring these important supply chains,” White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters at an August 19 press conference when asked about the government’s potential to acquire stakes in Intel.
Leavitt said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutic is “solving the details.” Transactions between the US and Intel may require approval from the company’s board of directors.
In an in-day interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the federal government will take stock interest in Intel in exchange for billions of federal grants awarded by the Biden administration.
“This interest is a subsidy conversion and may increase investment in Intel to stabilize the company for chip production in the US,” Bescent said.
Former President Joe Biden’s Chip and Science Act, which signed the law in 2022, included $39 billion in grants to boost US semiconductor manufacturing. President Donald Trump repeatedly attacked incentives as a present.
First reporting on the discussion, Bloomerg News said that a 10% stake in the chipmaker is worth around $10.5 billion.
Intel is the biggest beneficiary of the Biden Act, and has announced several incentive-backed projects, including a vast semiconductor facility outside Columbus, Ohio.
However, the Ohio project is undermined by delays. Intel’s first Ohio plant was originally scheduled to open in 2025, but financial challenges forced the company to delay its opening in 2030 or 2031.
Lutnick told CNBC that the US wants benefits from Intel’s “investment.” “We should acquire stock interests for our money,” the Commerce Secretary said in another interview with the network. “It’s not just giving grants.”
Intel’s arrangement was not the first time Trump had secured stakes in a private company in his second term. Japan has granted his administration a “golden sharing” to the company as part of a merger between Japan-based Japanese Steel and US steel approved by Trump in June.
Contributions: Max Philby, dispatched to Columbus. Reuters
Reach Joey Garrison with X @joeygarrison.
