The Trump Administration said Friday that it had taken a 10% participation in Intel, the last extraordinary movement of President Donald Trump to exercise control of the federal government on private businesses.
The United States will not seek direct representation at the Intel Board and promised to vote with the current board of directors on issues that require the approval of shareholders, “with limited exceptions,” according to a joint communication of the Trump and Intel administration. The measure also occurs when the United States competes with China in the race to dominate the artificial intelligence industry.
Trump also announced the agreement on his true social platform on Friday, praising the company’s CEO only two weeks after he asked the Executive to resign from China’s alleged ties.
“It is a great honor to inform that the United States of America now possess and controls 10% of Intel, a large American company that has an even more incredible future,” he wrote. “I negotiated this agreement with Lip-Bu Bu Tan, the very respected executive director of the company. The United States did not pay anything for these shares, and the shares are now valued at approximately $ 11 billion. This is a great offer for the United States and, also, a great offer for semiconductors and intel avant-garde chips. Building.
Although the United States had temporary bets in companies in the center of the 2008-2009 world financial crisis as part of a rescue, this movement is unusual since the economy is not involved in a crisis. The Congress published a study in 2003 that examined the impact of the federal government that took direct participations in public companies, concluding that doing so “would not offer a free lunch” and expose taxpayers to a “greater risk” together with the upward potential.
The participation will be paid through $ 5.7 billion in subsidies previously granted to Intel under the Law of Sciences and Chips of the United States of 2022, plus $ 3.2 billion granted to the company as part of a program called Secure Enclave. It is a previously classified initiative that Congress allocated funds for 2024 after pressing for Intel, Politico reported in 2024.
Including $ 2.2 billion in subsidies that Intel has received so far, the total investment is $ 11.1 billion, or 9.9%. Intel is valued at around $ 108 billion in the stock market.
Trump continues to drag the long -standing norms with respect to government and business, leaving the spirit of free market that has long prevailed in both main American political parties.
This month, Trump persuaded the Nvidia and AMD chips manufacturers to pay the United States government 15% of their income from some sales to China in exchange for ensuring export licenses there.
While these companies have seen their fortune increase in the midst of the greatest rise of artificial intelligence, an unexpected gain of any of them is not safe. In the case of Intel, based in California, the company has struggled to keep up with the rivals in recent years, with its 60% shares from the maximums observed during the pandemic.
But in the middle of the artificial intelligence arms race, and the objective of making computer chips a national security priority, Trump officials focused on Intel as a means to level the control of the United States on semiconductor production.
Earlier this week, Japan Softbank also announced that it would invest $ 2 billion in Intel to “deepen your commitment to invest in advanced technology and semiconductor innovation in the United States.”
Some Democrats pointed out that they were on board with the move.
“American leadership is essential for both our economy and national security,” said American senator Mark Warner, a Democrat of Virginia, in a statement on Friday night.
“Taking a capital participation in Intel may or may not be the right approach, but one thing is clear: allowing the avant -garde chips to flow to China without restrictions will erode the value of any investment we make here at home. We need a strategy that protects US innovation, strengthen our workforce and maintain the technologies of the future firm in the US hands.”
