Intel shares rose 2% in extended trading on Thursday after President Donald Trump posted a flattering message on social media about the chipmaker and its CEO, and championed the government’s investment in the company.
“I just finished a great meeting with the very successful Intel CEO, Lip-Bu Tan,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In August, the U.S. government took a 10% stake in Intel through an $8.9 billion investment. That came from CHIPS Act grants that hadn’t been paid and government awards for semiconductor manufacturing.
“The United States Government is proud to be a Shareholder of Intel, and has already made, through its U.S.A. ownership position, Tens of Billions of Dollars for the American People — IN JUST FOUR MONTHS,” Trump wrote. “We made a GREAT Deal, and so did Intel. Our Country is determined to bring leading edge Chip Manufacturing back to America, and that is exactly what is happening!!!”
Intel shares have soared 75% since the Trump administration’s announced investment, lifting the government’s stake to over $18 billion. The U.S. is now Intel’s biggest shareholder.
Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan holds a wafer of CPU tiles for the Intel Core Ultra series 3, code-named Panther Lake, outside the Intel Ocotillo campus in Chandler, Arizona. Panther Lake is the first client system-on-chips (SoCs) built on the Intel 18A process node.
Courtesy: Intel
Tan replaced Pat Gelsinger as Intel’s CEO in March, after the company had lost market share to Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia, as well as producers of chips based on energy-efficient Arm designs. But Intel remains a key supplier of processors for PCs and computer servers.
In July, said it would lay off thousands of employees, and Tan moved to pull back on chip production in the U.S. and in Europe. A plant in Ohio is set to come online in 2030 or 2031.
The next month, Trump called on Tan to resign, saying the CEO was “conflicted.” The remarks came after U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., questioned Tan’s ties to China. Tan, who was born in Malaysia and raised in Singapore, invested in more than 600 Chinese technology companies, Reuters reported in April.
Days later, Trump changed his tune and praised Tan’s “amazing story” after meeting with the Intel CEO. The investment came later that month.
Earlier this week, at the CES trade show in Las Vegas, Intel announced the availability of 2-nanometer 18A PC chips. Intel said the process was the most advanced ever manufactured in the U.S.
“Intel just launched the first SUB 2 NANOMETER CPU PROCESSOR designed, built, and packaged right here in the U.S.A.,” Trump said in Thursday’s post.
Intel has committed tens of billions of dollars toward creating a domestic chip fabrication business, though, like AMD and Nvidia, it also relies on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.
WATCH: CNBC’s interview with Melius Research’s Ben Reitzes