U.S. may take stake in Intel under Trump plan
Potential investment follows meeting between Trump and CEO Lip-Bu Tan as Washington eyes stronger domestic chip leadership.
The Trump administration is in talks with Intel to have the U.S. government potentially take a stake in the chipmaker, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the plan.
Shares of the company rose nearly 7%.
The plan stems from a meeting this week between President Donald Trump and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, the report added.
This comes after Trump publicly demanded the resignation of Tan over his past investments in Chinese tech companies, some linked to the Chinese military.
The White House and Intel did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump met Tan on Monday and described the meeting as “a very interesting one.”
Last week, Trump had demanded Tan’s immediate resignation, calling him “highly conflicted” over his ties to Chinese firms. The move injected uncertainty into Intel’s years-long turnaround effort.
Trump said he met with Tan alongside Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. According to Trump’s post on Truth Social, the group will present suggestions to him next week.
“I met with Mr. Lip-Bu Tan, of Intel, along with Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, and Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. “The meeting was a very interesting one. His success and rise is an amazing story. Mr. Tan and my Cabinet members are going to spend time together, and bring suggestions to me during the next week. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Intel confirmed the meeting. “Earlier today, Mr. Tan had the honor of meeting with President Trump for a candid and constructive discussion on Intel’s commitment to strengthening U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership.”
Reuters reported in April that Tan had invested in hundreds of Chinese firms, some linked to the Chinese military. It is not illegal for U.S. citizens to hold stakes in Chinese companies unless those companies appear on the U.S. Treasury’s Chinese Military-Industrial Complex Companies List, which explicitly bans such investments.
Tan was brought in to reverse years of missteps that left Intel lagging in the booming AI chip industry dominated by Nvidia, while the company’s contract manufacturing ambitions resulted in heavy losses.
In roughly six months as CEO, Tan has made major strategic shifts, divesting assets, laying off employees, and redirecting resources. But the public call for his resignation could distract from that mission, investors and a former senior Intel employee told Reuters.
Tan is now working to convince Trump that he is still the right person to lead Intel’s revival. Intel said the meeting was a “candid and constructive discussion” about the company’s commitment to strengthening U.S. technology and manufacturing leadership. The company pledged to work closely with the administration to “restore this great American company.”
Trump’s intervention marked a rare instance of a U.S. president publicly calling for the ouster of a corporate CEO, raising questions about presidential influence over private companies. This was underscored by a recent agreement requiring Nvidia and AMD to give the U.S. government 15% of their China-related revenue.
