What happened
The Trump administration is in talks with Intel to take a stake in the chipmaker, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
Who said what
The deal would be Trump's latest move to "blur the lines between state and industry," especially in the chip sector, Bloomberg said. In eight months of such "blunt interventions," Trump has "made himself the biggest decision-maker for one of the world's most economically and strategically important industries," The New York Times said. He has "threatened to take away government grants" and impose steep tariffs, successfully demanded a 15% cut of AMD and Nvidia chip sales to China and "turned the careful planning of companies historically led by engineers into a game of insider politics." Trump called for Tan's ouster last week, claiming he was "highly conflicted" by investments in China.
It is "unusual, but not unprecedented, for the government to consider taking stakes in companies that aren't in financial distress," the Journal said. And selling a stake of Intel to the government could relieve "political pressure" on the "beleaguered" Tan.
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What next?
Details of how the deal would be structured "are still being hashed out," the Journal said, and the proposal "is still in early stages and could fall apart."
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