The Trump administration is considering a large participation in the Intel. The future of American chip production at stake
Interest in the White House directly intensified by the President's public call to the resignation of President Intel, Lip-Bu Tan, in connection with his business relations in China. Talking about the potential entry of the state to the shareholding was to take place during the visit of the head of Intel to the White House last Monday.
In response to reports of a possible investment, the Intel exchange rate went back by approx. 2.8 percent, although it previously reflected after the first signals about the support from the government. Earlier about conversations regarding 10 % The package was informed by Bloomberg.
One of the mechanisms considered is the conversion of part of the subsidy from 2022 to own capital. The Secretary of Trade Howard Lutnick is looking for a formula that will increase the return from public money transferred to companies such as Intel. In 2024, Biden's administration indicated Intel as the greatest beneficiary of the program – The company was qualified to approx. $ 8 billion. Support for the construction and expansion of their plants, including in Ohiowith the payment of tranches after reaching specific milestones. According to interlocutors, the conversion of these funds to shares could strengthen the government's position in the supervision of the investment.
Intel did not cope with investments
On the image of the project in Ohio, many years of delays weighted, which angry some legislators convinced that Intel had too optimistically presented a schedule when he sought public support.
Special offer
Tensions intensify the fears of politicians regarding the accounts of the president of Tan in China. In this atmosphere, the discussion about the entry of the state into the shareholding also has a political dimension-10 % the package, at the market valuation of an intel order of $ 100 billion, would make the government one of the company's largest shareholders. However, the specific value and structure of the investment remain the subject of the findings.
The strategic context is clear. Washington wants to increase the US participation in global chip production and become independent of Asian supply chains. The administration emphasizes that Intel, combining the design and production of chip, remains an American candidate with the greatest chance to shorten the distance to the dominant Taiwanese TSMC.
A possible agreement would also be part of a wider pattern of the President's personal intervention in the private sector, i.e. from negotiating NVIDIA and AMD obligations to pay 15 percent revenues from the sale of chip in China In exchange for export licenses, after obtaining a “golden action” in the takeover of US Steel by Nippon Steel.
Intel may have no choice
Intel's market situation is conducive to extraordinary solutions. Since the beginning of last year, the company's course has fallen by more than half, and the company is struggling with the growing costs and a portfolio of products, which – in the assessment of part of the industry – does not keep up with the era of artificial intelligence.
Lip-Bu Tan, who embraced the reins in March, tries to reverse the trend after the departure of Pat Gelsinger, for whom financing from the Chips Act was one of the pillars of the strategy.
For market investors, the state entrance to the shareholding is a double -edged weapon. On the one hand, it stabilizes financing and can speed up critical production projects. On the other It raises questions about the potential divorce of capital, political interference and corporate priorities independent of the maximization of values for shareholders. For the sector, it would be a signal that in the era of geopolitical competition, public support can take forms that go beyond grants and reliefs, with a more pronounced division of risks and benefits between private and public shareholders.
No decisions have been made for now, and the result of talks will be a test for the new generation of American industrial policy. One that not only subsidizes, but also invests – and accounts.
