The administration of president Donald Trump insists the storied chipmaker should give Washington an equity stake in exchange for large grants committed when Joe Biden was president.
“I said, I think you should pay us 10% of your company,” Trump told reporters Friday, referring to a meeting with Intel last week.
“I said, I think it would be good having the US as your partner…. they’ve agreed to do it, and I think it’s a great deal for them.”
Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick said on X “the US of America now owns 10% of Intel, one of our great American technology companies.”
Intel declined to comment when asked by AFP for reaction or confirmation of Trump’s statement.
“Thanks to Intel CEO @LipBuTan1 for striking a deal that’s fair to Intel and fair to the American People,” Lutnick wrote.
Earlier this week Lutnick told CNBC any arrangement would not give the administration governing or voting rights in Intel.
He criticised grants committed under the CHIPS and Science Act – a major law passed during Biden’s term – as funding that was going to be simply given away.
The law was aimed at strengthening the US semiconductor industry, and the Biden administration had unveiled billions in grants through it.
It awarded Intel up to US$7.865 billion in direct funding in November 2024, according to a US Department of Commerce statement.
“This is a slippery slope,” independent tech analyst Rob Enderle said of the US taking a stake in Intel. “This is one of those things that kind of brings chills because it’s a step toward nationalising private business.”
If part of the deal is for Trump to put a loyalist on the Intel board, that could hinder rather than help the chip maker’s business, Enderle added.
Intel is one of Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies but its fortunes have been dwarfed by Asian powerhouses TSMC and Samsung, which dominate the made-to-order semiconductor business.
Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute, a Washington think tank that promotes limited government, said Friday that the government having a stake in Intel would be “a terrible decision, bad for almost everyone,” in a post on X.
He said it would be “bad for Intel’s long-term viability, as politics, not commercial considerations, increasingly drive its decisions” and that “foreign governments might also target it”.
On Tuesday, Japan-based tech investor SoftBank Group said it would invest US$2 billion in Intel, the latest in SoftBank’s succession of investments and business deals in the US as its charismatic founder Masayoshi Son aggressively courts Trump.