U.S. President Donald Trump claimed that if previous U.S. administrations had imposed tariffs to protect Intel, all of TSMC's business would have gone to the American chipmaker instead.
In an interview with U.S. business magazine Fortune on Tuesday, Trump said, "If companies had started bringing chips in from China when I was president, I would have imposed tariffs to protect Intel."
He added, "Intel would now be the largest company in the world." Referring to Taiwan's TSMC, the world's largest foundry, or contract chipmaker, Trump said, "All of their business would now belong to Intel, and Taiwan wouldn't even exist."
The remarks came as Trump explained how the U.S. government acquired a 10 percent stake in Intel last summer, when the American semiconductor company was struggling with management difficulties.
Trump said Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, grappling with declining market share and massive debt, came to see him. "When I told him to 'hand over 10 percent of Intel to the country for free,' he said 'fine,'" Trump recounted.
The U.S. government's acquisition of the 10 percent stake in Intel was structured as a quid pro quo for subsidies provided to Intel under the CHIPS Act. At the time, the 10 percent stake was valued at approximately $10 billion.
In November 2024, under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced it would provide up to $7.865 billion in direct funding to Intel to advance cutting-edge semiconductor capabilities and create tens of thousands of jobs.
Including this funding, Intel was set to receive a total of $10.9 billion in government subsidies. After the Trump administration took office, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the government was seeking to secure an Intel stake using subsidies under the CHIPS Act, and the Trump administration and Intel subsequently finalized the basic framework of an agreement.
"In just eight months, the value of the government's Intel stake has grown to more than $50 billion," Trump said. "Do people even know I did this? Am I getting any credit?"
