On the 22nd (local time), President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. government has now "fully owned and controlled" 10% of the equity in Intel, an American semiconductor corporation facing management difficulties.
President Trump stated in a post on social media platform Truth Social that he was "honored to report that the U.S. government now fully owns and controls 10% of the equity in the great American corporation Intel, which has a more amazing future."
As a result, the U.S. government has become Intel's largest shareholder. Until now, the largest shareholder of Intel had been BlackRock, an American asset management corporation, which held 8.92% equity.
President Trump wrote, "I negotiated this transaction with Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger," adding that "the U.S. government paid nothing for these equities, and the current value of the stocks is about $11 billion (approximately 15 trillion won)." He continued, "This is a huge transaction for America and a significant transaction for Intel." He also remarked, "Creating cutting-edge semiconductors and integrated circuits, which Intel does, is foundational to Korea's future," and wrote, "Let's make America great again."
The acquisition of 10% of Intel's equity by the U.S. government, as mentioned by President Trump, is a quid pro quo for providing subsidies to Intel under the semiconductor law.
Last November, during the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced that it would provide up to $7.865 billion (approximately 10.9 trillion won) in direct funding to Intel to develop cutting-edge semiconductor capabilities and create tens of thousands of jobs. Intel is set to receive a total of $10.9 billion in government subsidies, including this amount.
Earlier that day, after introducing the acquisition of equity in Intel at an event announcing the schedule for the draw for the FIFA World Cup in North and Central America held at the White House, President Trump said, "We do a lot of transactions like that. I will do more of those transactions." This has led to speculation that the Trump administration may attempt to acquire equity in corporations, like Samsung Electronics, that receive subsidies related to semiconductor facility investments in the U.S.
In December of last year, during the preceding Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce entered into agreements with corporations such as TSMC to provide $6.6 billion (approximately 9.2 trillion won), Micron with $6.2 billion (approximately 8.6 trillion won), and Samsung Electronics with $4.75 billion (6.6 trillion won) in subsidies according to the semiconductor law.
The subsidies are determined based on the scale of investment projects promised by these corporations, such as manufacturing facilities in the U.S., and the distribution of subsidies is structured to be paid sequentially according to the implementation of the projects.