Description: The Trump administration has reportedly entered negotiations to acquire a 10% stake in Intel as one of the largest semiconductor and chip manufacturers in the US. US Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, has stated that President Trump followed his America First policy in pushing the initiative while also incentivizing domestic production and manufacturing of key components for the high-tech industry such as chips and semiconductors. The news about the investment arrives after Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group announced it planned on investing more than $2 billion in Intel accumulating around 2% stake in the California – based company. Intel is currently struggling on the market and is hit by cost – cutting initiatives which prompted the postponement of the construction of a chip manufacturing plant in Ohio while significantly falling behind its rivals Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices in both research and manufacturing related to the development of AI technologies. The news regarding the US government investment was positively received by the market as Intel’s stock prices experienced an uptick by 7%.
Impact: Trump’s interest in technological investments stems from the global race for predominance over AI and high-tech development where the US aims at surpassing and asserting its dominance over China as its biggest geopolitical rival. By announcing federal investments in private corporations, the US is effectively confounding its conservative policies and its nationalizing domestic industrial potential for national growth. The investment also depicts the close interconnectedness between governments and highly developed business conglomerates as well as the latter’s importance in forwarding and protecting global and national agendas and policies. The investment also delivers a protective layer of legitimacy and credibility for Intel and would significantly improve the company’s standing on the market. Similar investments, especially in the US, should be expected in the future as the race for dominance over AI technology would only intensify.