US Government May Buy a Stake in Intel

[MacRumors]

The Trump administration is in preliminary discussions to acquire an equity stake in former Apple chip supplier Intel, a move aimed at accelerating the company's delayed manufacturing expansion in Ohio (via Bloomberg).

The proposal reportedly emerged following a meeting at the White House between President Donald Trump and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan. The discussions remain at an early stage, and no agreement has been finalized.

Intel's Ohio project was once touted as the world's largest chipmaking facility, but has since faced repeated delays. Production is now scheduled to begin in the next decade. The company has announced major cost reductions, including a 15% workforce cut and the cancellation of planned factories in Germany and Poland.

Intel was once the exclusive supplier of CPUs for the Mac lineup, and maintained a close relationship with Apple for over a decade. The partnership began in 2006 when Apple transitioned from IBM PowerPC processors to Intel's x86 architecture, a shift that allowed Macs to run Windows and benefit from higher performance-per-watt CPUs. The collaboration quickly phased out starting in 2020, when Apple introduced its own Apple silicon chips, beginning with the M1. By 2023, the transition was complete, and Apple no longer sold any Intel-based Macs.

The proposed government stake in Intel comes at a time when the chipmaker is struggling to regain competitiveness in advanced semiconductor manufacturing. While Apple now designs its chips in-house and manufactures them through TSMC, Intel has sought to reestablish itself as a foundry partner for external clients. Earlier this year, officials reportedly floated the idea of TSMC operating Intel's plants in a joint venture.

Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Article Link: US Government May Buy a Stake in Intel

 

[herocero]

kind of over Intel getting my tax dollars, how many billions in revenue is this "dead man walking" making again?

 

[airwalk331]

If this happens, does the DOJ under this administration start going after intel’s competitors?

 

[iPay]

Isn't it said to be socialist in the US?

 

[fenderbass146]

Owning? I'm all fine with investing, but owning a stake...no thanks.

 

[neuropsychguy]

Ah, the classic U.S. approach to business -- state capitalism! This shows MAGA is a RINO movement (and several other four letter words).

 

[Xavier]

The state gave a huge handout, and residents now have increased energy bills to cover the plants usage. And all we have heard is delays and setbacks. I was hopefully at the start of this project but that is dwindling fast.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Probably anyone at Intel that voted for Harris will be fired.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Ah, the classic U.S. approach to business -- state capitalism! This shows MAGA is a RINO movement (and several other four letter words).

You didn't know that a year ago? There are only a handful of real Republicans in our Government. The rest are Spineless MAGA (SMAGA).

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Probably anyone at Intel that voted for Harris will be fired.

The government doesn't know who you voted for. I've voted in every election in the for last 27 years, but I've never been registered with any party.

..but they still might try.

 

[Spock]

Let them die.

 

[henkie]

I thought socialism was the disease that needed to be rooted out by the MAGA movement?

 

[Chomp81]

Owning? I'm all fine with investing, but owning a stake...no thanks.

What do you think "investing" means?

 

[klasma]

how many billions in revenue is this "dead man walking" making again?

Incidentally, Van Helsing was a stake-holder too.

 

[Chomp81]

So, Intel and the US, will be what Huawei is for China?

 

[Dwalls90]

I don't care what you think of Trump, this never would have happened with the democrats in power.

Isn't it said to be socialist in the US?

Ah, the classic U.S. approach to business -- state capitalism! This shows MAGA is a RINO movement (and several other four letter words).

You didn't know that a year ago? There are only a handful of real Republicans in our Government. The rest are Spineless MAGA (SMAGA).

I thought socialism was the disease that needed to be rooted out by the MAGA movement?

Every accusation is a confession. Although it is socialism, it's not socialism if MAGA says it's not. And MAGA's followers will believe it.

 

[sziehr]

Once again we are bailing out a company who screwed up and put profit over company and now the company is dying. great job america, bail out a company and to big to fail non-sense, let them die, let them be sold, let apple buy them up, and let apple get into the chip game or google, stop injecting your self in the free market with my tax dollars. Intel decided stock buy backs were smarter than investing in RnD counter to what sue was doing at AMD or Jonny at apple was doing and now we have to pay for this such bs.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

The government doesn't know who you voted for. I've voted in every election in the for last 27 years, but I've never been registered with any party.

..but they still might try.

Independents might be spared but if you have a "D" on your voter record, you're unemployed!

 

[hybrid_x]

It's yet another government bailout of a failing business. Is America great again… yet?

 

[dynamojoe]

Every accusation is a confession. Although it is socialism, it's not socialism if MAGA says it's not. And MAGA's followers will believe it.

I have a feeling a lot of economists epidemiologists lawyers tax attorneys prosecutors tariff experts just became experts on socialism on Twitter.

 

[ForkHandles]

Try as he might

It won't help him to win the Nobel PC Prize!

What a schmuck!

 

[thefredelement]

This can't save Intel, they're rudderless and getting owned in the x86 space by AMD. They have some decent innovation w/Arc on the GPU side but that's at best an AMD GPU competitor for gamers and still not as good.

Intel is not what it used to be, they were trapped by their own chip design dogma for decades, had a CEO with a plan that they got rid of and are now flailing.

 

[Manzanito]

Given how untrustworthy as an ally this government has proven to be, won't this move make intel look as unreliable to foreign markets?

 

[jlc1978]

If the US acquires an equity stake, do it similar to the automaker's bailout. Have Intel go through chapter 11 bankruptcy and the US invest money in return for a significant ownership stake. Once (if) Intel succeeds, they can sell their stake to recoup the investment. Ideally, they won't lose 10 billion like they did with the automakers.

 

[victorvictoria]

Owning? I'm all fine with investing, but owning a stake...no thanks.

What's the difference? I own a stake in Apple. I own a in stake Chevron, Conoco, Wisconsin Energy. How would you invest in something without taking an ownership stake? Have Intel create a special class of bonds for the treasury to buy?

Keep government out of public markets. Period.