- Intel has reportedly entered talks with the White House
- This could see the US Government taking a stake in the company
- Intel is the most prominent semiconductor manufacturer in the US
The White House has confirmed it is negotiating a deal that could hand over a 10% stake in Intel to the US government.
The chipmaker has faced serious uncertainty in recent months, with multiple quarters of revenue decline, but the agreement could involve trading Intel shares for existing government grants.
“The president wants to put America’s needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters. “We should get an equity stake for our money. We’ll get equity in return for that… instead of just giving grants away.”
Trade wars
It’s a surprise twist to see President Trump turning away from the lassiaze-faire liberal economic policies that have dominated the American economy for decades – all in order to prop up Intel.
Trump previously called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign – calling him ‘highly conflicted’, most likely due to his stint as CEO of Cadance design systems, an organisation that recently plead guilty to illegally selling export-controlled tech to organisations with connections to the Chinese military.
Intel is perhaps the main US hope at rivaling Chinese and Taiwanese chipmaking giants – who are almost undoubtedly ahead in the semiconductor market battle.
However Intel’s recent layoffs have seen between 15-20% of US factory workers made redundant, indicating that domestic capabilities are not growing as the administration may have hoped.
The potential deal could give Intel the stability it needs to fully invest in domestic manufacturing, and could see the company build a flagship manufacturing hub in Ohio – although the White House dismissed the discussion of potential deals as ‘speculation’.
Fellow chipmaking giants Nvidia and AMD, agreed recently that 15% of chip sales will now go to the US government in exchange for export licences to China – despite growing national security concerns.
Via BBC