The Trump administration is considering taking a stake in Oregon’s largest private employer before sending already promised federal funding.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed in a CNBC interview that the government is seeking an equity stake in chipmaker Intel. Lutnick said it would be a requirement for receiving CHIPS Act funding that Congress approved in 2022.

“It’s not governance,” Lutnick told the financial network. “We’re just converting what was a grant under Biden into equity for the Trump administration, for the American people. Nonvoting.”

A company spokesperson declined OPB’s request for comment.

Last year, the Biden administration awarded Intel $1.8 billion to upgrade parts of its campus in Hillsboro. The company considers its Hillsboro facilities as the heart of its research and development for semiconductors and other Intel technology products. The company employs around 18,000 people in Oregon.

Intel was awarded a total of nearly $8 billion from the CHIPS Act. The legislation is meant to spark domestic production of the computer chips powering electronics that have become critical to daily life. The money was expected to go to efforts in Arizona, Ohio and Oregon to bolster the chipmaker’s manufacturing in the U.S.

Recently Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has said those plans will have to slow down as the company works to trim costs. Intel has lost ground to other major chipmakers in the fields of artificial intelligence and smartphones.

The comments from the commerce secretary are the latest in a back and forth between the company and top federal officials.

Earlier this month, President Trump accused Tan of being “highly conflicted.” Tan responded in a public letter to company employees, noting that Intel was investing in U.S. facilities in ways that will benefit the American economy.

This story will be updated.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/08/20/intel-equity-stake-chips-act/