South Korea's presidential office has denied that the U.S. government is looking to purchase Samsung stocks, with the Blue House saying that these are unfounded rumors. According to Digitimes, the speculation started after U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in a live interview that the White House is in talks with Intel to get a 10% stake in the company in exchange for the billions it received in CHIPS Act funding. There were also reports that Lutnick wanted to expand that deal to other CHIPS Act recipients, which include Samsung.
The South Korean conglomerate was set to receive more than $6 billion in CHIPS Act funding, which was designed to support the construction and expansion of its Taylor, Texas, fab. Although this is a much smaller amount than what Intel received, in both absolute terms and in relation to its market capitalization of more than $300 billion, the fact that there’s even talk of a foreign government taking a stake in South Korea’s crown jewel will stir trouble within its political and business realms.
