Aug 11, 2026
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Add us on GoogleDon’t expect the U.S. government to quit Intel anytime soon.
White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said that it’ll be up to President Donald Trump to decide the timeline for the administration to sell its 10% equity stake that it took a year ago.
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“I think that in the end, President Trump, who has an incredible track record of when to buy and sell things, is going to make that call,” Hassett told CNBC on August 10. “I don’t think that this is going to be sort of a socialist takeover.”
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The arrangement caught many Wall Street investors by surprise since government intervention is rare outside an economic crisis. Now, the Trump administration has taken stakes in 37 private companies in deals totaling $27.6 billion, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Many of the deals involve companies entrenched in the production of semiconductors or critical minerals.
The Trump administration has suggested that its actions with Japan were an effort to help a friend “in need,” Hassett said, referring to the recent lifeline started to prop up a faltering Japanese yen and prevent broader tumult in financial markets.
A spokesperson for Intel didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Intel is spotting its next three opportunities
Intel was trading at about $100 per share on August 10. Its shares have soared 153% since the start of the year due to the appetite among hyperscalers for the chips, semiconductors and related components powering the AI race.
Intel has specialized its business around manufacturing the central processing units (CPUs) that help AI agents complete their assigned tasks. There’s a staggering demand for them to correspond with the rapid data center buildout underway.
On August 10, Intel announced it was offering $15 billion in new stock in an effort to take advantage of its dramatic turnaround.
“Customers continue to signal a strong and sustainable demand environment, driven by unprecedented investment in AI compute,” Intel said in a statement. The chipmaker identified “significant growth areas” around physical AI, external wafers, specialized silicon and advanced packaging.
Intel CEO Lip Bu-Tan took over the company last year and has overseen a period of remarkable revenue growth. Intel has sought to refashion itself as a foundry, or a firm that produces chips for clients. It did secure a win earlier this year when Apple agreed to employ Intel-made chips for some of its products.
Intel reported $16.1 billion in sales in its latest earnings report, a 25% increase compared to the same quarter last year. The company also raised its capital expenditure forecast to $20 billion this year, up from $18 billion.
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‘I should have asked for more’
Intel forms a key piece in the administration’s effort to restore the U.S.’s domestic manufacturing capacity. Earlier this year, the President said that he should have asked for a bigger stake in Intel given its newfound success.
“I said, ‘Give the country 10% ownership for free in Intel,’” Trump told Fortune Magazine in a May interview. “(Tan) said, ‘You have a deal.’ I said, ‘S—, I should have asked for more.’”
Republicans have held off from criticizing Trump’s stake in Intel, with most saying they simply prefer the government to minimize its role in the economy to avoid playing favorites.
In June, Republican Sen. Jon Husted of Ohio introduced a bill that would establish “an orderly process” for the U.S. to sell off its Trump-era private sector investments within eight years.
“Currently, there is no requirement for the federal government to sell its ownership stakes in private companies once those investments have served their purpose,” Husted said in a statement. “Without clear guardrails, future administrations could use taxpayer-funded investments to influence private companies and advance political agendas.”
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Joseph Zeballos-Roig is a policy and politics journalist based in Washington D.C with a focus on economics. He is experienced in connecting the significance of events in the capital to the lives of everyday Americans whether its taxes, tariffs, interest rates or federal programs.
