The $5.7 billion investment will see the US government take a 10% stake in Intel, with the Commerce Department said to be ironing out the details.
Intel’s chief financial officer has confirmed the company has received $5.7 billion from the Trump administration as part of a deal that sees the US government taking a 10% stake in the company, as per CNBC. Although this move is highly unprecedented, with some Republican lawmakers likening it to socialism, or communism, Intel claims it was part of a move to prevent it from selling its chip fabrication business.
Intel has fallen on tough times in recent years. It’s lost many of its top performance positions to AMD, and its fabrication business has suffered under increasing competition from TSMC and Samsung. Although it still has exciting new chips in the works, and received a major investment from the last-government’s CHIPS act, it was still considering selling the entire chip manufacturing arm of its business. That is, until the U.S. government stepped in.
Under the move, $8.9 billion of federal grants that Intel received as part of the CHIPS act was converted into equity in the business. The agreement also stated that if Intel ever sells more than 49% of its foundry business, that the government could purchase an additional 5% shares at $20 each, thereby discouraging Intel from doing so.