Trump says Intel agreed to give US a stake in its company
Washington – President Donald Trump said Intel had agreed to give the US government a 10% stake in his activities.
Speaking with journalists on Friday, Trump said that the agreement had come from a meeting last week with the CEO of Intel Lip BU Tan – who came a few days after the president called Tan to resign for his bonds spent with China.
“I said, I think it would be good to have the United States as a partner,” said Trump. “He agreed and they agreed to do so.”
Intel did not immediately respond to a request for comments on the agreement.
The manufacturer of flea in difficulty of Silicon Valley has a market capitalization of just over $ 100 billion. The agreement occurs just after the Japanese technology giant Softbank Group revealed on Monday that it accumulated its 2% stake in Intel.
The official announcement should arrive later on Friday, according to a White House official who was not authorized to speak publicly before an announcement and spoke under the cover of anonymity.
The Trump administration was in talks to obtain a 10% stake in Intel in exchange for converts of government grants which were promised in Intel under President Joe Biden. If the agreement is concluded, the American government would become one of the largest shareholders in Intel and would blur the traditional lines separating the public and the private sector in a country which remains the greatest economy in the world.
In his second mandate, Trump has taken advantage of his power to reprogram the operations of major computer flea companies. The administration requires NVIDIA and Advanced Micro Devices, two companies whose chips help fuel the craze around artificial intelligence, to pay a 15% commission on their flea sales in China in exchange for export licenses.
Trump’s interest in Intel is also motivated by his desire to stimulate the production of fleas in the United States, which was a focal point of the trade war he has led around the world. By reducing the country’s dependence on chips produced abroad, the president thinks that the United States will be better placed to maintain his technological advance towards China in the race to create artificial intelligence.
This is what the president declared on August 7 in an unequivocal position calling the CEO of Intel Lip-Bu Tan to resign less than five months after the Santa Clara company, California, hired him. The demand was triggered by reports raising national security problems concerning TAN’s past investments in Chinese technological companies when it was a capital venture. But Trump fell after Tan professed his allegiance to the United States in a public letter to Intel employees and went to the White House to meet the president, who applauded Intel CEO to have an “incredible story”.
The company does not comment on the possibility that the American government becomes a major shareholder, but Intel may have little choice because it currently deals with a weak position. After taking advantage of decades of growth while its processors fueled personal computer boom, the company fell into a crisis after missing the passage to the mobile computer era unleashed by the beginnings of the iPhone in 2007.
Intel has dropped even further in recent years during an artificial intelligence enthusiasm which has been a boon for Nvidia and AMD. The company lost nearly $ 19 billion last year and an additional $ 3.7 billion in the first six months of this year, which prompted Tan to undertake a wave of cost reduction. At the end of this year, Tan expects Intel to have around 75,000 workers, a reduction of 25% compared to the end of last year.
Although rare, it is not unprecedented for the American government to become an important shareholder in a leading company. One of the most notable cases occurred during the big recession in 2008 when the government injected nearly $ 50 billion into General Motors in exchange for a participation of around 60% in the car manufacturer at a time when it was about to go bankrupt. The government ended up with a loss of about $ 10 billion after sold its stock in GM.
US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick told CNBC during an interview on Tuesday that the government did not intend to get involved in Intel activities, and would have linked hands by holding united actions in the company. But some analysts wonder if the Trump administration’s financial links with Intel could encourage more companies to arouse favor with the president to increase their orders for the company’s fleas.
Intel was among the biggest beneficiaries of the Biden Chip and Administration Sciences, but it was unable to rekindle its fortune while delaying the construction projects caused by the program.
The company received around $ 2.2 billion from the $ 7.8 billion promised as part of the incentive program – the money that Larick has ridiculed as a “gift” that would better serve American taxpayers if they are transformed into Intel shares. “We believe that America should benefit from the bar
