On August 23rd, reported by the China News Service (edited by Niu Zhanlin)
On Friday, local time, the US Secretary of Commerce, Lutnick, announced that the federal government had acquired a 10% stake in the struggling chip giant Intel. This was the latest step by the Trump administration to strengthen control over US companies.
Intel stated in a press release that the US government purchased 433.3 million common shares at a price of $20.47 per share, with a total investment of approximately $8.9 billion, corresponding to a 10% equity stake. Intel pointed out that this price was lower than the market price at that time.
It was reported that for the funding source, $5.7 billion came from approved but yet-to-be-disbursed subsidy funds from the “Chip and Science Act,” while another $3.2 billion came from an independent government project to develop secure chips.
US President Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, “The US government acquired these shares without any cost and they are currently worth approximately $11 billion. This is a great deal for both the US government and Intel.”
In addition, the US government also received an option to purchase an additional 5% stake in Intel if it ceased to be the controlling shareholder of its wafer manufacturing business in the future.
Intel CEO Chen Lifu stated at a press conference, “As the only semiconductor company in the world that simultaneously conducts cutting-edge logic chip research and manufacturing in the United States, Intel is always committed to ensuring that the most advanced technologies are manufactured in the United States.”
Earlier that day, Trump revealed at the White House that the government should obtain about a 10% stake in Intel, “They have agreed, and I believe it is a very good deal for them.”
The White House stated that Trump would meet with Chen Lifu in the afternoon on Friday, and Lutnick also posted a photo with Chen on social media.
This marks a significant shift in US industrial policy, with the government beginning to play a more active role in the private sector. Lutnick stated this week, “We deserve equity for our funding. We will cash out the subsidies promised by the Biden administration, but with equity as a reward.”
SoftBank also announced this week that it would invest $2 billion in Intel, accounting for about 2% of its shares, becoming another heavyweight investor.
Compared to TSMC, Intel’s technology is generally believed to have a gap. TSMC is an important chip supplier for Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm, AMD, and even Intel itself.
To bridge the gap, Intel is investing billions of dollars to build chip factories in Ohio and plans to mass-produce advanced AI chips from 2026. However, in July, Chen Lifu emphasized in an internal memo that they would no longer “burn money without limits” and announced that they would slow down the construction of the Ohio factory based on market conditions, pushing back its production start to 2030.