{"id":26278,"date":"2025-08-20T13:03:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T10:03:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=26278"},"modified":"2025-08-22T17:41:35","modified_gmt":"2025-08-22T14:41:35","slug":"us-authorities-eye-stakes-in-ai-chipmakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/us-authorities-eye-stakes-in-ai-chipmakers\/","title":{"rendered":"US Authorities Eye Stakes in AI Chipmakers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is considering the possibility of the government acquiring stakes in Intel and other chip manufacturers in exchange for financial grants under the CHIPS Act, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/media-telecom\/us-examines-equity-stake-chip-makers-chips-act-cash-grants-sources-say-2025-08-20\/\">Reuters<\/a>, citing sources.<\/p>\n<p>The CHIPS Act, enacted in August 2022 during Joe Biden&#8217;s administration, aims to support chip manufacturing and scientific development in the country. The initiative allocates $52.7 billion to stimulate growth in the semiconductor industry:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>$39 billion for subsidies and grants to build and expand factories;<\/li>\n<li>$11 billion for scientific research and development;<\/li>\n<li>the remaining funds for tax incentives for chip developers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A significant portion of the CHIPS Act funding has yet to be distributed among companies such as Micron, TSMC, Samsung, and Intel.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, the administration of then-President Donald Trump struck several unusual deals with American firms. Nvidia and AMD <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/trump-sets-conditions-for-nvidias-blackwell-chip-sales-to-china\">were allowed<\/a> to sell downgraded AI chips to China in exchange for 15% of the revenue from these deals.<\/p>\n<p>Such government intervention in corporate affairs has raised concerns among critics. They fear the creation of new categories of corporate risks and poor decisions that could result in losses for taxpayers.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the US government acquiring a stake in TSMC, Taiwan&#8217;s Minister of Economic Affairs, Kuo Tzu-hui, stated that his department would consult with the company. He emphasized that it is private, not state-owned.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWe will also discuss this with the National Development Council, as it is a shareholder of TSMC. We will try to thoroughly understand the essence of the US Commerce Secretary&#8217;s statements, but it will take time for discussion and evaluation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>According to Reuters, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt allegedly confirmed that Lutnick wants to acquire 10% of Intel&#8217;s shares for the state. However, there is no direct confirmation of this.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe President intends to put America&#8217;s interests first \u2014 both in terms of national security and the economy. This is a creative idea that has never been implemented before,\u201d she told reporters.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The proposed stake in companies would be non-voting \u2014 the government would not manage the business but would receive income.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe Biden administration was literally giving money to Intel and TSMC for nothing, and Donald Trump said, \u2018Hey, we want shares for the money. If we give you money, we want a stake in the business for American taxpayers,\u2019\u201d Lutnick said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>SoftBank Investments and Intel&#8217;s Challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>His statement came a day after SoftBank Group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2025-08-18\/softbank-agrees-to-invest-2-billion-in-intel-as-part-of-us-push?embedded-checkout=true\">agreed<\/a> to invest $2 billion in Intel.<\/p>\n<p>The Japanese group will pay $23 per share. It has sought to become a key player in artificial intelligence for several years but has mostly remained on the sidelines.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, the company became involved in the <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/trump-announces-500-billion-investment-in-ai-infrastructure\">Stargate<\/a> project and <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/openai-secures-40-billion-at-a-300-billion-valuation\">invested<\/a> in OpenAI, valuing the latter at $300 billion.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2024, Intel <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/intel-to-cut-15000-jobs-amid-ai-competition\">announced<\/a> the layoff of 15% of its workforce, or about 15,000 employees, amid lagging in the AI race. The decision was part of a plan to cut costs by $10 billion in 2025, linked to poor financial performance.<\/p>\n<p>In September, Intel <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/intel-to-spin-off-ai-manufacturing-into-separate-business\">announced a series of changes<\/a> aimed at improving efficiency, competitiveness, and profitability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is considering the government acquiring stakes in Intel and other chip manufacturers in exchange for financial grants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"US Commerce Secretary considers acquiring stakes in Intel for grants.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[438,736,1769,26],"class_list":["post-26278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-intel","tag-tsmc","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"59","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"US Commerce Secretary considers acquiring stakes in Intel for grants.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26278"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26278\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26280,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26278\/revisions\/26280"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}