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day of the dalek [soylentnews.org] writes:

Per Bloomberg [bloomberg.com] (Alternate sources: CNBC [cnbc.com] and Reuters [reuters.com]), the Trump Administration is weighing the US government potentially buying a stake in Intel. As CNBC reports:

Intel is the only U.S. company with the capability to manufacture the fastest chips on U.S. shores, although rivals including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company and Samsung also have U.S. factories. President Donald Trump has called for more chips and high technology to be manufactured in the U.S.

The government's stake would help fund factories that Intel is currently building in Ohio, according to the report.

This comes a week after Donald Trump called for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign [cbsnews.com]. While the reason behind Trump's call for Tan's resignation was not entirely clear, it is believed that it was due to Tan's investments in Chinese businesses. From CBS:

"The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately," Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social, without providing additional details. "There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!"

The president's call for Tan's resignation comes after Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas, sent a letter to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary on Tuesday expressing concern over Tan's investments and ties to Chinese businesses.

"Mr. Tan reportedly controls dozens of Chinese companies and has a stake in hundreds of Chinese advanced-manufacturing and chip firms," Cotton wrote in the letter. "At least eight of these companies reportedly have ties to the Chinese People's Liberation Army."

Tan is an American citizen who was born in Malaysia, spent his youth in Singapore, and attended graduate school at MIT where he received a degree in nuclear engineering [nytimes.com]. Despite the comments about Tan last week, Trump's position on Tan remaining CEO of Intel seemed to soften earlier this week following a meeting between them [nytimes.com] (Alternate sources: AP [apnews.com] and CNBC [cnbc.com]). From the New York Times article:

After the afternoon meeting at the White House, Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social that his discussion with Mr. Tan “was a very interesting one,” though he did not elaborate. Mr. Trump said that Mr. Tan and cabinet members would meet next week and “bring suggestions to me,” adding that the Intel chief’s “success and rise is an amazing story.”

Mr. Trump’s post appeared to signal that he was changing his mind about any national security risk posed by Mr. Tan, 65, who became Intel’s chief executive in March. Mr. Trump’s call last week for Mr. Tan to resign, citing his past investments in Chinese companies, was one of the first times the president had attempted to directly intervene to change the leadership at a major publicly traded company.

The report that the Trump Administration is considering purchasing a stake in Intel seems to be a continuation of Trump's change in attitude toward the company and its CEO. In response to the Bloomberg report, Intel's stock surged 7% on Thursday. This is a developing story, and the White House has not yet commented.

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