The White House had been seeking an equity stake in the company in exchange for the almost $11 billion in grants from the CHIPS and Science Act.
Despite Trump’s previous criticisms of Tan over his alleged connections to China, the president noted that he “liked him a lot” and “thought he was very good.”
“I said, ‘You know what? I think the United States should be given 10 percent of Intel.’ And he said, ‘I would consider that,’” Trump told reporters.
“I said, ‘I think it would be good having the United States as your partner.’ He agreed, and they’ve agreed to do it, and I think it’s a great deal for them.”
Intel, Trump said, had been left behind by many of its industry competitors, such as Nvidia and TSMC, in recent years.
The president did not provide official details of the arrangement.
Shares of Intel climbed as much as 6 percent to close out the trading week, adding to the stock’s year-to-date gain of 22 percent.
Breathing Room for the Chipmaker
Government backing may offer Intel a much-needed cushion following its $19 billion annual loss—its first in nearly four decades.
The $100 billion company recently added to its momentum after receiving a $2 billion capital injection from Japan’s SoftBank.
Meanwhile, senior administration officials had previously confirmed that the White House had been seeking an equity stake in the company in exchange for the almost $11 billion in grants from the CHIPS and Science Act.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick noted that the federal government was not pursuing governance rights or a voting stake to direct Intel’s operations. Instead, the president wanted to obtain “a good return for the American taxpayer instead of just giving grants away.”
“We want Intel to be successful in America,” Lutnick said in an Aug. 19 interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“We’d like an American transistor built in America, right? We’d like an American to be doing that.”
The administration’s recent policy decisions have pushed for enhanced public-private partnerships with companies in the semiconductor and rare earths industries.
Earlier this month, Trump authorized export licenses for tech juggernauts Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) to sell artificial intelligence chips to China. In exchange, they will pay 15 percent of their revenues to the federal government, which is projected to total $2.2 billion.
By Andrew Moran
