His comments come shortly after a deal in which the US government would take a 10% equity stake in chipmaker Intel, funded via grants that were previously awarded to the company.

Asked about whether President Donald Trump’s administration might consider also taking a stake in Nvidia, Bessent told Fox Business, “I don’t think Nvidia needs financial support, so that seems not on the table right now.”

“But could there be other industries where we’re reshaping something like shipbuilding, sure, there could be things like that,” he said.

Bessent noted that “these are critical industries that we have to be self-sufficient (in) in the US.”

On sectors like defence, Bessent said, “I don’t know if we need to take stakes in defence companies.”

“We’ll see whether the defence companies are fulfilling their mission in terms of providing adequate and timely deliveries for the US military, as opposed to maybe an over-emphasis on the shareholders,” he added.

In the case of Intel, the company said the US government would receive 433.3 million shares of common stock, representing a 9.9% stake in the company and amounting to an US$8.9 billion investment.

But it stressed that the investment was “passive ownership” with no board representation or other governance rights.

Intel has warned that the deal comes with certain risks.

These include potentially limiting its ability to secure grants from government entities in the future, while its international business could also be affected with the US government being a significant shareholder.

Critics of the deal have also warned that it could be bad for the company’s viability if politics are seen as driving business decisions.