The Trump administration is testing a simple proposition: if Washington funds you, Washington should own a piece of you. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is exploring equity stakes in chipmakers that receive CHIPS Act grants, starting with Intel.
“We should get an equity stake for our money,” Lutnick said, according to one report. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed talks for a 10% government stake in Intel and framed the effort as both economic and national security policy: “The president wants to put America’s needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective, and it’s a creative idea that has never been done before.”
Lutnick has said the US doesn’t want to tell Intel how to run its operations, but a direct stake would be unprecedented for industrial grants and would formalize Washington’s role as both funder and shareholder.
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Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is involved in the CHIPS talks, but Lutnick is driving the process. Commerce oversees $52.7 billion under the CHIPS and Science Act. The department last year finalized subsidies of $6.6 billion for TSMC, $6.2 billion for Micron, and $4.75 billion for Samsung to expand US semiconductor production.
In June, Lutnick said some grants approved under former President Joe Biden were “overly generous” and that at least one recipient, Micron, had offered to increase US capex—an opening to demand more giveback, including equity.
Much of the money has yet to be disbursed, giving the administration leverage to redesign terms before funds move.
The administration recently cut a deal with Nvidia allowing export of H20 chips to China in exchange for the US government receiving 15% of those sales. The Pentagon is also slated to become the largest shareholder in a small mining company to scale rare-earth magnet output.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump approved Nippon Steel’s purchase of US Steel only after securing a “golden share” that lets the White House block investment delays, production transfers, or plant closures on a defined timetable.
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