Trump’s investment in Intel is paying off
belonging to the Trump administration The investment in Intel appears to be paying off, but the powerful chipmaker has a long way to go to return to industry dominance.
In August, the U.S. government announced that it would convert about $9 billion in federal aid that Intel issued under the Biden administration into a roughly 10 percent stake in the company. During its third-quarter earnings on Thursday — its first financial update since Trump’s surprise investment — Intel reported revenue of $13.7 billion in the quarter, up 3 percent from a year earlier. This is the fourth quarter in a row that Intel has beaten revenue guidance.
Intel’s stock price has risen more than 90 percent since the deal with Trump over the summer. At the time, the company’s stock was trading around $20. On the heels of today’s earnings report, its stock price rose to $38.16.
The White House has announced it is investing in Intel, weeks after Trump publicly called for the company’s CEO Lipp Bou Than to resign over its troubled relationship with China. However, the president changed his position just a few days later, after a positive meeting with Tan.
In an earnings call, Tan said he was honored by the trust Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had placed in him. He added that Intel is “fully committed to the vision of the Trump administration and is proud to welcome the United States as a fundamental partner in our efforts.”
Intel’s stronger-than-expected earnings show that global demand for x86 chips, the type in which Intel specializes, continues to grow as the tech industry invests heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure. While GPUs, such as Nvidia’s H100s, remain the gold standard for training AI models, data center architectures include a mix of GPUs and x86 processors that power various AI workloads.
In the earnings call, Intel noted that it has not been able to supply its device customers with enough older chips that are not as advanced as the new generations of AI semiconductors. That’s partly because there isn’t much consumer demand for AI-powered PCs, so device makers are still looking for older, cheaper chips.
Intel also reported net income of $4.1 billion. A year ago, the company reported a loss of more than $16 billion. Under Tan’s leadership, Intel has tried hard to cut costs, including by laying off 15 percent of its workforce.
The past few months have been busy for Intel. Along with the Trump administration, graphics processor giant Nvidia and multinational technology firm SoftBank also poured money into the company in exchange for common stock. In the most recent quarter, Intel received $5.7 billion from the US government, $5 billion from Nvidia, and $2 billion from Softbank. It received an additional $5.2 billion by selling stakes in chip maker Altera and autonomous driving company Mobileye.
