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

US President Donald Trump said on Friday the United States 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.

The US agreed to purchase a 9.9 per cent stake in Intel for US$8.9 billion at a price of US$20.47 a share, which is a discount of about US$4 per share from Intel’s closing share price of US$24.80 on Friday.

The government will purchase the 433.3 million shares with funding from the US$5.7 billion in unpaid Chips Act grants and US$3.2 billion awarded to Intel for the Secure Enclave programme.

Intel shares dropped 1.2 per cent in extended trading on Friday.

Trump is set to meet with CEO Lip-Bu Tan later on Friday, a White House official said. The development follows a meeting between 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 US$10 billion for the United States. So we picked up US$10 billion,” Trump said on Friday.