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White House's Hassett says US could take stakes in other chip companies
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 25, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on August 25, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
The US government may invest in more semiconductor firms, says White House adviser Hassett, after its stake in Intel, potentially expanding to other industries.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The federal government could take stakes in other U.S. semiconductor companies or even move to other industries, White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNBC in an interview on Monday following its stake in Intel.
Hassett, asked if the Intel deal was the start of a larger effort by the U.S. government to take equity stakes in other industries that it subsidizes, or other companies in the AI and chip space that are subsidized such as Advanced Micro Devices Inc or Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, said there could be other similar transactions.
"I think this is a very, very special circumstance because of the massive amount of CHIPS Act spending that was coming Intel's way," the National Economic Council director told CNBC.
"But the president has made it clear all the way back to the campaign that he thinks that, in the end, it would be great if the U.S. could start to build up a sovereign wealth fund. And so I'm sure that at some point there'll be more transactions, if not in this industry in other industries," Hassett said.
The Intel investment marks the latest unusual deal with U.S. companies that has worried critics, who say Trump's actions create new categories of corporate risk.
Under Trump, the U.S. government has allowed AI chip giant Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to China, allowed the Pentagon to become the largest shareholder in mining company MP Materials and acquired a "golden share" with certain veto rights as part of Japan's Nippon Steel purchase of U.S. Steel.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Toby Chopra and Louise Heavens)
Kevin Hassett mentioned that the federal government could take stakes in other U.S. semiconductor companies or even explore investments in other industries.
Hassett described the Intel investment as a very special circumstance due to the significant amount of CHIPS Act spending allocated to Intel.
The president has expressed a desire to build up a sovereign wealth fund, indicating that he sees potential benefits in such an initiative.
Critics are worried that the government's actions create new categories of corporate risk, particularly with unusual deals involving U.S. companies.
Under Trump, the U.S. government permitted Nvidia to sell its H20 chips to China and allowed the Pentagon to become a major shareholder in mining company MP Materials.
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