Trump says he will continue to make deals like Intel one

26/08/2025 04:54 AST

US President Donald Trump on Monday said he would make deals with other companies similar to the one he announced last week with Intel. Trump on Friday said the US would take a 10 percent stake in Intel under a deal with the struggling chipmaker that converts government grants into an equity share.

"I will make deals like that for our Country all day long," Trump said in a post on Truth Social. "I love seeing their stock price go up, making the USA RICHER, AND RICHER. More jobs for America!" he added. Trump also said in the post that he would help companies that make similar "lucrative" deals with US states but didn't provide details.

The Intel deal will ensure that the chipmaker will receive about $10 billion in funds for building or expanding factories in the US. Under the agreement, the US will purchase a 9.9 percent stake in Intel for $8.9 billion, or $20.47 per share, which represents a discount of about $4 from Intel's closing share price of $24.80 on Friday.

The purchase of the 433.3 million Intel shares will be made with funding from the $5.7 billion in unpaid grants from the Biden-era CHIPS Act and $3.2 billion awarded to Intel for the Secure Enclave program, also awarded under Trump's predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden.

Trump's top economic advisor Kevin Hassett also said on Monday that the US government could take stakes in other companies after doing so with chipmaker Intel. Hassett, who is director of the National Economic Council, cited Trump's plans for a sovereign wealth fund in a CNBC interview, saying "I'm sure that at some point there'll be more transactions" in the semiconductor industry or others. He was responding to a question on whether a recently announced deal for the US government to take a 10-percent equity stake in Intel was the start of broader efforts towards similar moves in other industries that authorities have been funding.

Wall Street's main indexes dipped on Monday, retreating from gains made in the previous session after US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell hinted that an interest-rate cut could be considered at next month's central bank meeting. Recent economic data suggesting labor market weakness has boosted investor confidence that the central bank could switch to a dovish stance in September, despite a majority of policymakers warning that US tariffs could add to inflationary pressures in the coming months.

The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price index - the Fed's preferred inflation gauge - is due to be released on Friday, while official nonfarm payrolls data is expected next week. The reports will be crucial, especially after Powell said a dovish verdict was not a certainty.

"The most important report between now and September is not the inflation numbers, rather the jobs report," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital, New York. "As long as we show continued cracks in the labor market, the cut in September will happen, barring some egregiously high inflation numbers."

Powell's comments nudged major brokerages to revise their expectations, with Barclays, BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank currently seeing a 25-basis-point reduction in borrowing costs next month. Traders now see a 79.6 percent chance of a Fed rate cut in September, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Kuwait Times