Trump administration’s deal is structured to prevent Intel from selling foundry unit

8/28/2025

The Trump administration seems intent on controlling Intel’s ability to make key business decisions around its floundering foundry business unit. According to reporting from the Financial Times [https://www.ft.com/content/29fb5020-2b25-429a-b63f-18356b467e7a], at a Deutsche Bank conference on Thursday, Intel’s CFO David Zinsner shared new details about the company’s recent deal with the Trump administration, which gave the U.S. government a 10% equity stake [https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/23/the-trump-administrations-big-intel-investment-comes-from-already-awarded-grants/]. The deal was structured in a way to penalize Intel if it spins out its foundry business unit, which makes custom chips for outside customers, within the next few years. Last week’s deal included a five-year warrant that would allow the U.S. government to take an additional 5% of Intel, at $20 a share, if the company held less than 51% equity in its foundry business. Zinsner said he expects that warrant to expire. “I think from the government’s perspective, they were aligned with that; they didn’t want to see us take the business and spin it off or sell it to somebody,” he said. Zinsner added that the company received $5.7 billion in cash [https://www.reuters.com/business/intel-says-it-received-us-grant-government-says-it-is-still-working-deal-2025-08-28/] on Wednesday, as a result of last week’s deal, according to Reuters. (That cash comes from the remaining grants previously awarded, but not yet paid, to Intel under the U.S. CHIPS and Science Act.) White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters today that the deal was still being ironed out. Techcrunch event TECH AND VC HEAVYWEIGHTS JOIN THE DISRUPT 2025 AGENDA NETFLIX, ELEVENLABS, WAYVE, SEQUOIA CAPITAL, ELAD GIL — JUST A FEW OF THE HEAVY HITTERS JOINING THE DISRUPT 2025 AGENDA. THEY’RE HERE TO DELIVER THE INSIGHTS THAT FUEL STARTUP GROWTH AND SHARPEN YOUR EDGE. DON’T MISS THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF TECHCRUNCH DISRUPT, AND A CHANCE TO LEARN FROM THE TOP VOICES IN TECH — GRAB YOUR TICKET NOW AND SAVE UP TO $600+ BEFORE PRICES RISE. TECH AND VC HEAVYWEIGHTS JOIN THE DISRUPT 2025 AGENDA NETFLIX, ELEVENLABS, WAYVE, SEQUOIA CAPITAL — JUST A FEW OF THE HEAVY HITTERS JOINING THE DISRUPT 2025 AGENDA. THEY’RE HERE TO DELIVER THE INSIGHTS THAT FUEL STARTUP GROWTH AND SHARPEN YOUR EDGE. DON’T MISS THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF TECHCRUNCH DISRUPT, AND A CHANCE TO LEARN FROM THE TOP VOICES IN TECH — GRAB YOUR TICKET NOW AND SAVE UP TO $675 BEFORE PRICES RISE. San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 REGISTER NOW [https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-disrupt-2025/?utm_source=tc&utm_medium=ad&utm_campaign=disrupt2025&utm_content=ticketsales&promo=tc_inline_rb&display=] Intel declined to comment on the deal beyond Zinsner’s remarks. This deal structure is clearly a testament to the Trump administration’s desire to bring more chip manufacturing to the United States as many players in the industry turn to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company