AsianFin -- A senior government official on Wednesday suggested the Trump administration is eyeing more government stakes in the private sector, expanding its deal with Intel Corporation.
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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in an interview with Fox News ruled out acquiring a stake in Nvidia Corporation, while confirming the Trump administrations may be interested in taking stakes in industries beyond the semiconductor.
When asked if the administration is considering taking stakes in further semiconductor companies, Bessent replied:”I don't think Nvidia needs financial support.” Bessent added that companies in other industries that are critical for the United States could be the government’s target.
“So, you know, that that seems, not on the table right now, but could there be other industries, where you know, that we're reshaping, something like shipbuilding, that.Sure. There could be things like that. And these are critical industries that we have to, we have to be self-sufficient in the United States,” said Bessent.
Bessent also hinted the pharmaceutical industry is the one that U.S. has to reduce dependence on overseas suppliers since the Covid-19 pandemic exposed weakness in American’s supply chains that must be addressed. "Think about it, 80-90% of the precursor pharma products are made overseas. And that's just unacceptable because, you know, as we saw during Covid, the manufacturing countries will keep it for themselves," he said.
A day prior to Bessents’ comments, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick revealed the Trump administration is considering expanding its stake in Intel to include defense contractors like Lockheed Martin.
Top officials at the Pentagon are “thinking about” whether the U.S. government should acquire equity stakes in leading defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, said Lutnick in a CNBC interview on Tuesday. “Oh there’s a monstrous discussion about defense,” Lutnick replied when asked about if the Trump administration would repeat the stake-taking move with other companies that do business with the government.
Calling the Intel deal “a great example”, Lutnick said he and U.S. President Donald Trump stuck the agreement with Intel to make the previous government subsidies awarded to the chipmaker fair for America. The CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 (CHIPS Act) introduced by former President Joe Biden gave Intel $11 billion grant at in exchange for nothing to help them build semiconductors in U.S., he said.
Lutnick described Lockheed Martin as “basically an arm of the U.S. government”, noting the company makes 97% of its revenue from the government. “But what’s the economics of that? I’m going to leave that to my secretary of Defense and the deputy secretary of Defense.” he said. “These guys are on it and they’re thinking about it.”
“As we did in his first term, we are continuing our strong working relationship with President Trump and his Administration to strengthen our national defense,” Lockheed said in a statement later Tuesday.
Trump on Friday announced his administration now “fully owns and controls 10% of INTEL, a Great American Company that has an even more incredible future.” He in a social media post touted “a great deal for America” since the U.S. government “paid nothing for these shares” now valued at around $11 billion. He also highlighted significance of the deal as Intel is building cutting-edge semiconductors, which is “fundamental to the future of our Nation.”
Intel later Friday unveiled some details of the agreement. The company suggested it agreed to give a nearly 10% stake to the Trump administration in exchange for a total of $11.1 billion funding under the CHIPS Act.
Under the agreement, the U.S. government will make an $8.9 billion investment in Intel common stock on top of the $2.2 billion in CHIPS Act grants Intel has received to date. “The government’s equity stake will be funded by the remaining $5.7 billion in grants previously awarded, but not yet paid, to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act and $3.2 billion awarded to the company as part of the Secure Enclave program,” said Intel in a statement.
With the $8.9 committed investment, the U.S. government agreed to purchase 433.3 million primary shares of Intel common stock at a price of $20.47 per share, equivalent to a 9.9% stake in the company. The federal government thus became one of Intel’s biggest shareholders.
