Lutnick Says US May Take Intel Stake To Counter China Risk, Highlights Nvidia CEO’s Active Role In Chip Policy

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick reportedly said Tuesday that President Donald Trump is considering taking a federal equity stake in Intel (INTC) in exchange for government funding committed under the Biden administration. 

Intel’s stock gained more than 9% in morning trade, with retail sentiment on Stocktwits surging higher within ‘extremely bullish’ territory amid ‘extremely high’ levels of chatter. The company was among the top trending tickers on the platform at the time of writing. The jump in Intel’s stock comes after the company struck a deal with Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank for a $2 billion strategic investment. 

“We want Intel to be successful in America,” Lutnick told CNBC in an interview, adding that the stake would be non-voting. That means even though the government will have a stake in Intel, which would reportedly be around 10% in exchange for the Chips Act funding, they will not be exercising any governance over the company. “We’ll get equity in return for it [grant]. Getting a good return for the American taxpayer, instead of just giving grants away. Donald Trump views that we should get benefits for the economics that we put out,” he said.

Lutnick also criticized U.S. subsidies flowing to Taiwan’s TSMC (TSM), saying Washington “cannot rely on Taiwan to make our chips.” TSMC’s stock was also among the top trending tickers on the platform, with retail sentiment jumping to ‘bullish’ from ‘bearish’ over the past day. The shares were down as much as 1.5% in morning trade. “You can’t have 99% of leading-edge chips made in Taiwan,” Lutnick said.

He added that Intel could anchor domestic supply as the U.S. handles “Chinese risk,” while noting Nvidia’s (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang “is fantastic” and has been actively pitching Trump on chip policy. Nvidia’s stock was in the red, down 1.2% in morning trade. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the company dipped to ‘bearish’ from ‘neutral’ territory over the past day.

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