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US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed that the White House wants to take a stake in Intel in exchange for billions in federal subsidies for the struggling chipmaker.
"America should get the benefit of the bargain. I mean that is exactly Donald Trump’s perspective," Lutnick told CNBC on Tuesday. “Why are we giving a company worth a hundred billion dollars this kind of money? What’s in it for the American taxpayer?
“The answer Donald Trump has is we should get an equity stake for our money,” Lutnick added. “We’ll get a good return for the American taxpayer instead of giving grants away.”
Intel is supposed to receive over $7.8 billion from the US CHIPS and Science Act, which was passed in 2022 to bolster the domestic semiconductor industry. Although the funding included various conditions to support Intel’s US factory expansions, the Trump administration reportedly wants a 10% stake in the company as well.
“The CHIPS Act was just a giveaway to rich companies,” Lutnick alleged in the CNBC interview. Giving the US a stake in the company is "a worse deal" for Intel than getting CHIPS Act funds directly, he argued. "But when you put this money in the hands of Donald Trump, you’re going to get a better deal for the American taxpayer.”
Still, the news has sparked concerns about the federal government sinking even more funds into Intel with no guarantee of a return. Intel itself has delayed its factory expansions in the US, signaling a lack of demand for its upcoming 18A manufacturing process.
Lutnick argues that the US is "just converting what would have been a grant under Biden into equity, for the Trump administration, for the American people. But it’s not governance," and would be a "non-voting" stake.
The Trump administration is preparing to announce new tariffs on foreign chips to encourage tech companies to manufacture their products domestically. The president is warning that those tariffs could reach as high as 300%.
In the interview, Lutnick also mentioned Taiwan’s TSMC, which has been awarded $6.6 billion in CHIPS funding. That raises questions over whether the Trump administration will also demand equity from TSMC, which plans to build six new fabs in Arizona.
Earlier this month, Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay the US government 15% of revenue from their AI chip sales to China, a move that Democrats argue is potentially unconstitutional.