U.S. Commerce Secretary is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that receive CHIPS Act funding.
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U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is looking into the federalgovernmenttaking equitystakesin computerchipmanufacturers that receiveCHIPSActfunding to build factories in the country, twosourcessaid.
Expanding on a plan to receive anequity stakein Intelin exchange for cash grants, a White House official and a person familiar with the situation said Lutnick is exploring how the U.S. can receive equitystakesin exchange forCHIPSActfunding for companies such as Micron, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Coand Samsung. Much of the funding has not yet been dispersed.
Aside from Intel, memorychipmaker Micron is the biggest U.S. recipient ofCHIPSActcash. TSMC declined comment. Micron, Samsung and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Tuesday that Lutnick was working on a deal with Intel to take a 10%governmentstake. “The president wants to put America’s needs first, both from a national security and economic perspective, and it’s a creative idea that has never been done before,” she told reporters.
While Lutnick said earlier on CNBC that the U.S. does not want to tell Intel how to run its operations, any investment would be unprecedented and ramps up a new era of U.S. influence on the big companies. In the past, the U.S. has takenstakesin companies to provide cash and build confidence in times of economic upheaval and uncertainty.
In a similar move earlier this year,Trumpapproved Nippon Steel‘spurchase of U.S. Steel after being promised a “golden share” that would prevent the companies from reducing or delaying promised investments, transferring production or jobs outside the U.S., or closing or idling plants before certain time frames, without the president’s consent.
The twosourcessaid Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is also involved in theCHIPSActdiscussions, but that Lutnick is driving the process. The Commerce Department oversees the $52.7 billionCHIPSAct, formally known as theCHIPS and ScienceAct. Theactprovides funding for research and grants for buildingchipplants in the U.S.
Lutnick has been pushing the equity idea, thesourcessaid, adding thatTrumplikes the idea.
The U.S. Commerce Department late last yearfinalizedsubsidies of $4.75 billion for Samsung, $6.2 billion for Micron and $6.6 billion for TSMC to produce semiconductors in the U.S.
In June, Lutnick said the department wasre-negotiatingsome of former President Joe Biden’s grants to semiconductor firms, calling them “overly generous”. He noted at the time that Micron offered to increase its spending onchipplants in the U.S.
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