Trump advisor says US may take stakes in more companies after Intel

Washington DC - The US government could take stakes in other companies after doing so with chipmaker Intel, President Donald Trump's top economic advisor Kevin Hassett said Monday.

The US government could take stakes in other companies after doing so with chipmaker Intel, President Donald Trump's top economic advisor Kevin Hassett said Monday.
The US government could take stakes in other companies after doing so with chipmaker Intel, President Donald Trump's top economic advisor Kevin Hassett said Monday.  © JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, cited Trump's plans for a sovereign wealth fund in a CNBC interview, saying, "I'm sure that at some point there'll be more transactions" in the semiconductor industry or others.

He was responding to a question on whether a recently announced deal for the US government to take a 10% equity stake in Intel was the start of broader efforts towards similar moves in other industries that authorities have been funding.

Under the agreement with Intel, the US government will receive 433.3 million shares of common stock, representing a 9.9% stake in the company, Intel said in an earlier statement.

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This amounts to an $8.9 billion investment, funded partially by $5.7 billion in grants awarded but not yet paid under the CHIPS and Science Act – a major law passed under former President Joe Biden, which Trump has criticized. The other portion comes from a different award.

Hassett said on Monday that "in the past, the federal government has been giving money away" to companies.

But he maintained that under potential deals like that with Intel, "these are going to be shares that don't have voting rights."

He said the US government plans to stay out of how companies are run.

Cover photo: JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

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