President Donald Trump says he is “just getting started” in what he describes as a new era of dealmaking between Washington and America’s biggest companies.
On Monday, the administration confirmed that its agreement to take a roughly 10% stake in Intel is only the beginning of what could evolve into a series of taxpayer-funded ownership deals, effectively laying the groundwork for what Trump has long envisioned: a U.S. sovereign wealth fund.
Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council and a leading contender for the next Federal Reserve chair, made the administration’s intentions clear in an interview with CNBC.
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“The president has made it clear all the way back to the campaign, he thinks that in the end, it would be great if the U.S. could start to build up a sovereign wealth fund. So I’m sure that at some point there’ll be more transactions, if not in this industry then other industries,” Hassett said.
The Intel deal is remarkable not only for its size but also for how it came about. Roughly $11 billion in grants pledged under the Biden-era CHIPS Act — a bipartisan policy aimed at boosting domestic semiconductor production — were converted into 433.3 million non-voting Intel shares. Trump has argued repeatedly that his predecessor’s CHIPS subsidies gave away taxpayer money without securing enough value in return. By turning grants into equity, he says, taxpayers now “own a piece” of America’s semiconductor future.
Trump, in his characteristic style, lashed out at skeptics of the agreement. “Why are ‘stupid’ people unhappy with that? I will make deals like that for our Country all day long,” he wrote on Truth Social. “I will also help those companies that make such lucrative deals with the United States. I love seeing their stock price go up, making the USA RICHER, AND RICHER.”
Intel’s stock rose more than 2% in early Monday trading following the announcement, closing at $25.25. The U.S. government purchased its shares at a $4 discount from Friday’s closing price of $24.80.
National Security and Industrial Policy
The White House has defended the intervention as a national security imperative. Intel, once the undisputed leader in chipmaking, has lost ground to foreign rivals like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. Officials argue it is a strategic risk for the U.S. to rely so heavily on overseas suppliers for advanced chips that power smartphones, defense systems, and AI models.
“I said, I think it would be good having the United States as your partner,” Trump told reporters.
This is not the administration’s first corporate intervention. Earlier this year, the White House took a so-called “golden share” in U.S. Steel to secure protections for American workers after approving Japanese-based Nippon Steel’s acquisition of the company. Separately, Trump mandated a 15% remittance on high-end chip sales by Nvidia and AMD to China — a move that followed his decision to halt exports of the firms’ most advanced chips to Beijing.
Divisions Over “Corporate Statism”
Still, not everyone is convinced. The Wall Street Journal editorial board compared the Intel deal to “corporate statism,” likening it to the U.S. government’s controversial 2009 bailout of General Motors, in which taxpayers ultimately lost about $10 billion. Many fear a slippery slope in which the government grows too entangled in private industry, potentially distorting competition.
Intel itself has acknowledged potential risks. In a securities filing, the company warned that a 9.9% government stake could complicate its international business, especially given that 76% of its revenue comes from outside the United States, with China alone accounting for 29%. The filing noted that foreign subsidy laws and restrictions could be triggered by Washington’s new role as a shareholder, potentially straining global sales.
CEO Lip-Bu Tan struck a more conciliatory note, however. In a Commerce Department video posted Monday, he said: “I don’t need the grant. But I really look forward to having the U.S. government be my shareholder.”
However, the Intel agreement is effectively clearing away billions in outstanding CHIPS Act obligations, with the company’s obligations considered discharged “to the maximum extent permissible under applicable law,” except for its Secure Enclave program. But it has also raised the possibility that other government entities may demand to convert existing grants into equity stakes, reshaping how Washington does industrial policy.
That is believed to be precisely the point for Trump. By recasting subsidies as investments, he believes that he is setting the foundation for a sovereign wealth fund that could expand across industries — from steel to semiconductors and potentially beyond.
“We will do a lot more deals like that,” Trump promised.
However, only time will tell whether taxpayers end up richer, as Trump insists, or whether this gamble on corporate equity echoes past interventions where the U.S. public shouldered the downside risk while private companies reaped the rewards.