Intel has agreed to a deal for US to take 10% equity stake, says Trump

The US government will take a 10 per cent stake in Intel under an agreement with the struggling chipmaker, President Donald Trump said on Friday, marking the latest extraordinary intervention in corporate affairs. 

Intel, whose shares rose more than 6 per cent, declined to comment. 

The move marks a clear change of direction just weeks after Trump called for the resignation of the company's new chief Lip-Bu Tan over his "highly conflicted" ties to Chinese firms. 

It also follows a $2 billion capital injection from SoftBank Group in what was a major vote of confidence for the troubled US chipmaker in the middle of a turnaround. 

Federal backing could give Intel more breathing room to revive its loss-making foundry business, analysts said, but it still suffers from a weak product roadmap and challenges in attracting customers to its new factories. 

Trump, who met with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan on August 11, has taken an unprecedented approach to national security. 

The US president has pushed for multibillion-dollar government tie-ups in semiconductors and rare earths, such as a pay-for-play deal with Nvidia and an arrangement with rare-earth producer MP Materials, to secure critical minerals. 

Tan, who took the top job at Intel in March, has been tasked to turn around the American chipmaking icon, which recorded an annual loss of $18.8 billion in 2024 — its first such loss since 1986. The company's last fiscal year of positive adjusted free cash flow was 2021.