The Trump administration is considering taking a stake in Intel as a means of boosting the struggling U.S. chipmaker, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Tuesday.
Lutnick indicated the money for the stake would come from previously allocated Biden-era funding. Media reports have suggested the government is considering a 10 percent stake using CHIPS and Science Act grants.
“The president figures out that we should get, America should get the benefit of the bargain,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
“I mean, that is exactly Donald Trump’s perspective, which is, why are we giving a company worth $100 billion this kind of money?” he continued. “What is in it for the American taxpayer? And the answer Donald Trump has is we should get an equity state for our money.”
“So we’ll deliver the money which was already committed under the Biden administration,” Lutnick added. “We’ll get equity in return for it, get a good return for the American taxpayer instead of just giving grants away.”
The Commerce secretary’s comments come just under two weeks after President Trump called on Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign.
The president accused Tan of being “highly conflicted” following Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-Ark.) letter to the company, voicing concerns about the CEO’s investments in Chinese companies and his previous role at Cadence Design Systems.
The software firm recently pleaded guilty to violating export controls by selling chip design technology to a Chinese military university during Tan’s tenure.
However, Trump changed his tone after meeting with Tan last week, and reports began emerging that the administration was considering taking a stake in the company.
“The meeting was a very interesting one. His success and rise is an amazing story,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “Mr. Tan and my Cabinet members are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week.”
Lutnick pointed to the administration’s national security concerns about chip production as he discussed the potential stake Monday.
“We cannot rely on Taiwan, which is 9,500 miles away from us and only 80 miles from China,” he said. “So, you can’t have 99 percent of leading-edge chips made in Taiwan. We want to make them here.”
“One of those pieces is it would be lovely to have Intel be capable of making a U.S. node or a U.S. transistor, driving that in America,” Lutnick added. “That would be lovely. That’s not necessary. But as I said, that would be a really good thing to have would be American participant in the semiconductor space.”
