By Andrew Moran
Contributing Writer
President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. government made $40 billion from its deal with chipmaker Intel.
The president, speaking during his Cabinet meeting, told reporters that the head of Intel visited him to discuss problems the company had been facing.
“I said, ‘Look, we’ll fix your problem, but I think the United States is entitled to 10% of your company,‘” Trump stated. “And the chairman looked at me, and he goes, ’You have a deal.’”
After briefly conferring with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Trump revealed that the United States has made $40 billion in three months.
“Does anybody write about it? Nobody writes about, but that’s OK.”
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan met with the president at the White House in August to discuss government support for domestic chipmaking.
Days later, the administration announced that the federal government had purchased more than 433 million shares of Intel at $20.47 each, representing a 10% stake in the company.
Intel’s stock has rocketed since, soaring about 100% to nearly $43 a share. Its market cap is firmly above $200 billion, up from about $100 billion before the agreement.
Over the past few months, the administration has purchased equity stakes in several major companies as part of Trump’s industrial policy priorities.
In July, the Department of Defense acquired a 15% stake in the rare-earth mining and processing firm MP Materials. A 10% stake was negotiated with Lithium Americas and Trilogy Metals this fall.
Lutnick took a shot at the previous administration’s CHIPS and Science Act, calling it a “$60 billion giveaway” and stating that the United States presently has $300 billion in commitments for semiconductor manufacturing.
“That’s going up to $750 billion in the next 60 days,” Lutnick told the press.
Overall, the administration has touted trillions of dollars in manufacturing investment from domestic and foreign corporations.
In a Monday statement posted on X, Lutnick confirmed that South Korea recently introduced legislation in parliament to formalize its $350 billion investment pledges to the United States.
In exchange, the administration lowered the U.S. tariff rate on South Korean imports of automobiles and aircraft parts to 15% from 25%, effective retroactively from Nov. 1.
‘Capex Boom’
All of this investment is “turning into a capex boom,” says Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Capital expenditures — money companies spend to purchase, upgrade, or maintain long-term physical assets — are up 15% this year, according to the Treasury secretary.
He attributed this to the president’s landmark One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“In history, when capex is up, jobs will follow,” Bessent said during the Cabinet meeting.
“I think next year is going to be a fantastic year — taxes, deregulation, energy, certainty,” he continued. “So not only we’re going to have great growth, but it’s going to be low inflationary growth.”
“Next year is going to be the year for Main Street as all this kicks in.”
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected this past summer that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would raise real gross domestic product by 0.9% in 2026.
“The main factor in the bill is that, starting Jan. 1, 2026, businesses can immediately deduct capital expenses, such as investments in equipment and R&D. This is a major tailwind for the economy in 2026,” Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Wealth Management, said in a Tuesday note.
Since the first-quarter contraction, the U.S. economy has rebounded substantially. GDP grew 3.8% in the second quarter.
The Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow Model estimates an almost 4% expansion in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter is up in the air due to the lack of economic data and the record-breaking government shutdown, but the New York Fed suggests a more than 2% increase.
