Trump says Intel agrees to deal for US to take 10% equity stake

President Donald Trump said on Friday the US would take a 10 per cent stake in Intel under a deal with the struggling chipmaker and is planning more such moves, the latest extraordinary intervention by the White House in corporate America.

An official announcement on the arrangement is expected later in the day, a source familiar with the matter said.

The development follows a meeting between CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Trump earlier this month that was sparked by Trump's demand for the Intel chief's resignation over his ties to Chinese firms.

"He walked in wanting to keep his job and he ended up giving us $10 billion for the United States," Trump said on Friday.

The move 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 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.