In a potentially dramatic shift for corporate America and U.S. industrial policy, the Trump administration is actively considering a plan to buy a direct stake in Intel, one of the world’s largest and most strategically important chipmakers and the recent target of fierce criticism from the president himself. These revelations, first reported by Bloomberg, triggered an immediate surge in Intel’s stock—jumping by as much as 8.9% in late Thursday trading as investors responded to the possibility of government intervention and support for the beleaguered firm.
This kind of direct government investment in a tech giant marks a notable departure from the more hands-off approach favored by nearly all previous U.S. administrations. Traditionally, federal support for chipmaking came mainly in the form of grants or subsidies, such as those allocated under the CHIPS Act. Trump’s approach appears to favor direct equity stakes, echoing recent White House moves in other sectors, such as the federal government taking a “golden share” while allowing Nippon Steel to acquire U.S. Steel, and the Department of Defense buying $400 million in preferred shares in MP Materials, a miner of rare-earth minerals.
