Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the Pentagon is considering similar equity moves with defense firms.
Intel shares blew through the roof Thursday after Nvidia dropped $5 billion into the struggling chipmaker, handing Donald Trump a fresh $4.9 billion paper gain tied to a government stake he pushed through weeks earlier.
The rally, which is by the way Intel’s biggest one-day surge in nearly 40 years, shot the stock to $31.79 and instantly spiked the value of Washington’s equity from $9 billion to around $14 billion.
As Cryptopolitan reported, that deal was quietly sealed in August when Trump authorized the purchase of 433.3 million shares at $20.47 a piece.
Intel confirmed that 274.6 million of those shares were handed over to the Department of Commerce. The remaining 158.7 million is being held in escrow and will be unlocked in stages as the government makes payments to Intel under the Chips Act.
At press time, Intel shares were still trading high at $30.79, up 24% on the day. Trump’s fingerprints were all over the setup, and now the move is drawing fire from across the aisle.
What started as a government-backed investment in a legacy tech firm has turned into a national debate about who controls what, and why the leader of the free world is dabbling in billion-dollar equity deals with private firms.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had told CNBC on air that the Pentagon is now actively considering buying equity in America’s largest defense contractors. The remarks came just days after Trump signed off on the Intel purchase.
When asked whether Trump would use the same playbook with other firms, Howard responded, “Oh, there’s a monstrous discussion about defense.”
Howard said companies like Lockheed Martin, which gets most of its revenue from federal contracts, are “basically an arm of the U.S. government.” He said decisions on future equity stakes would rest with the Secretary of Defense and his deputy, but made it clear that Trump is reviewing how America pays for war and weapons.
“I tell you, the way it has been done has been a giveaway,” Howard said, hinting that Trump might completely change how defense budgets are structured and approved by Congress.
Lockheed, the top defense company globally by revenue, issued a statement later saying it is maintaining its partnership with the Trump administration. “As we did in his first term, we are continuing our strong working relationship with President Trump and his Administration to strengthen our national defense,” a Lockheed spokesperson said.
Other major players like RTX, Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman are all likely to be part of Trump’s deeper push into direct state involvement with military contractors.
Multiple executives say Trump met privately with Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in the weeks leading up to both deals. Several Intel officials have openly said they were uncomfortable with the president’s involvement.
At first, Trump wanted Lip-Bu fired before he eventually agreed to the government stake. This kind of pressure has defined Trump’s second term: assert control, cut checks, and call the shots, publicly or privately.
But Trump is unbothered by the backlash. He told reporters recently, “I would make these kinds of deals all day long.” His plan seems to be more of the same; identify key companies, buy big, and use government influence to boost outcomes.
But critics are now sounding alarms over what they see as political interference in public markets. Cato Institute economist Scott Lincicome, writing in the Washington Post, said, “The most immediate risk is that Intel’s decisions will increasingly be driven by political rather than commercial considerations.”
Senator Rand Paul from Kentucky posted on X, “If socialism is government owning the means of production, wouldn’t the government owning part of Intel be a step toward socialism?”
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