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Government Intel The Almighty Buck

Trump Administration To Take Equity Stake In Former Intel CEO's Chip Startup (wsj.com) 58

Posted by BeauHD from the let's-make-a-deal dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Wall Street Journal: The Trump administration has agreed to inject up to $150 million into a startup (source paywalled; alternative source) trying to develop more advanced semiconductor manufacturing techniques in the U.S., its latest bid to support strategically important domestic industries with government incentives. Under the arrangement, the Commerce Department would give the incentives to xLight, a startup trying to improve the critical chip-making process known as extreme ultraviolet lithography, the agency said in a Monday release. In return, the government would get an equity stake that would likely make it xLight's largest shareholder.

The Dutch firm ASML is currently the only global producer of EUV machines, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. XLight is seeking to improve on just one component of the EUV process: the crucially important lasers that etch complex microscopic patterns onto chemical-treated silicon wafers. The startup is hoping to integrate its light sources into ASML's machines. XLight represents a second act for Pat Gelsinger, the former chief executive of Intel who was fired by the board late last year after the chip maker suffered from weak financial performance and a stalled manufacturing expansion. Gelsinger serves as executive chairman of xLight's board.

[...] The xLight deal uses funding from the 2022 Chips and Science Act allocated for earlier stage companies with promising technologies. It is the first Chips Act award in President Trump's second term and is a preliminary agreement, meaning it isn't finalized and could change. "This partnership would back a technology that can fundamentally rewrite the limits of chipmaking," Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in the release.

Trump Administration To Take Equity Stake In Former Intel CEO's Chip Startup More | Reply

Trump Administration To Take Equity Stake In Former Intel CEO's Chip Startup

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  • They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Caro Cogitatus ( 7226002 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @11:22AM (#65830255)
    ...while demanding the public ownership of the means of production. Can't write parody any more.

    • Re:They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:5, Funny)

      by Growlley ( 6732614 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @11:27AM (#65830267)
      you missunderstand he is going to take it with him when he leaves like that jet.

    • Re:They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gtall ( 79522 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @11:29AM (#65830281)

      This is not socialism but fascism. Look it up. And what happens when one of these companies that idiot put U.S. taxpayer money into? The taxpayers will bail it out. And if anyone of these companies cannot compete, it won't matter because the U.S. Government won't let it fail.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by gtall ( 79522 )

        And worse, the government will screw any competitors to its *favored* companies. Just watch el Bunko, he has no morals or ethics, so naturally the Christian Right feels he is one of them.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by skam240 ( 789197 )

          Hopefully we get a sell off when the next administration comes into power as this is not something government should be doing.

          • It's like the YOB can't stop shooting himself in the foot. Then he blames the shoe company and takes ownership! Even though he never wore that brand of shoe. "The light was better over here!"

            To make it a proper joke for Slashdot I have to note that the YOB shot himself in the foot using his preferred programming language. But then I'm stumped because I cannot imagine the YOB writing a program of any sort. Which language is best for shooting senile self in foot?

            (I say YOB because I reject the brand as poison

      • This is not socialism but fascism. Look it up. And what happens when one of these companies that idiot put U.S. taxpayer money into? The taxpayers will bail it out. And if anyone of these companies cannot compete, it won't matter because the U.S. Government won't let it fail.

        That pretty much happens anyway. I'll give this admin this one little caveat: They're at least open and blatant with their corruption. It's not hiding and pretending to be something else before the bullshit moment. It's bullshit right up front and center.

        • Re:They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:5, Insightful)

          by dfghjk ( 711126 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @11:59AM (#65830343)

          "They're at least open and blatant with their corruption. It's not hiding and pretending to be something else before the bullshit moment. It's bullshit right up front and center."

          Trump views the US as his personal property. To him there is no corruption, he can do as he likes. The Supreme Court agrees, except when it suggests it might not. Congress has been dysfunctional since Gingrich, the destruction of US government has been the Republican plan for decades. To Trump, the US is the family business, it's not socialism or fascism, it's just taking money he's entitled to.

          People need to see Trump for who he is. We don't have a functioning government or constitution any longer, only a fight over whether Trump owns everything and whether billionaires and christian extremists who put him in power are satisfied with the scraps.

          • King or Fascist - not much difference between them. He is a fascist by definition, by every expert, historian... When Don Jr. takes over then he is a king.

            Being authentically and openly corrupt is EXTREMELY harmful and undermines society in long lasting ways that are really hard to undo. It's why Russia never could turn around; the culture has been ruined since it was born - it's their most powerful weapon, export and affliction: societal subversion.

          • Trump views the US as his personal property. To him there is no corruption, he can do as he likes.

            Which explains why Don Trump is such an admirer of Don Putin.

      • This is not socialism but fascism. Look it up. And what happens when one of these companies that idiot put U.S. taxpayer money into? The taxpayers will bail it out. And if anyone of these companies cannot compete, it won't matter because the U.S. Government won't let it fail.

        Let's be honest, it's been happening for "ages" for any strategic industry, like food production, oil, steel, shipyards, banking and the list can go on - now with the worries about Taiwan, high end chip manufacturing is a reasonable thing to protect - let's not get paranoid.

        • Right but it isn't like a grant program where different companies are bidding to operate a national chip foundry like our contract research usually works or produce something for the government on spec like defense contracting usually works. This is all being done differently.

          • Banks got just pure cash, car manufactures (some) got cash in exchange for ownership, which they later payed off, oil, steel, shipyards and food get subsidies or law is enacted to protect them from any foreign competition - any way necessary is used to guarantee US independence.

            Times are different now - it is no longer what it used to be after the fall of the iron curtain, the tensions only rising and chips nowadays are even more important than oil in the last century, as one cannot start producing chips "o

      • "The taxpayers will bail it out."

        What if the Fed can do it without needing tax money, and if you're worried about inflation (which never showed up, contrary to mainstream economic model predictions by the Fed itself, after 2008 Fed money-printing), why can't the Fed index everything to inflation?

      • Until they cosplay Nazi and do a proper Nazi solute instead of an Italian one...(BTW, the original) Americans won't think it is fascism!

        Trivial juvenile arguments win the day here. Vance can run circles around those and the fools don't buy it because it's above them.

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by shanen ( 462549 )

          My version of optimism about that thar' veep:

          "He couldn't sell candy to a baby. But he might be able to steal the baby's candy if he catches it napping."

      • This is not socialism but fascism. Look it up.

        I did:

        Fascism is an authoritarian political system characterized by extreme nationalism, a dictatorial leader, and a powerful central government that suppresses opposition and controls all aspects of public life.

        When the government owns the means of production, it's neither socialism nor fascism. It's communism.

        And I'm not saying the current administration doesn't show fascist tendencies.

        • When the government owns the means of production, it's neither socialism nor fascism. It's communism.

          It's literally socialism. Go back to Wikipedia and read some more.

          • When the government owns the means of production, it's neither socialism nor fascism. It's communism.

            It's literally socialism. Go back to Wikipedia and read some more.

            Okay, fair enough. I'll concede that socialism and communism advocate for communal ownership of the means of production. Communism advocates for the abolition of private property of any kind: the government owns everything, not just the means of production.

            However, I stand by my other point: neither is fascism.

          • So is wealth redistribution, but that doesn't stop this orange asshat from both railing against "socialism" while continuing to talk about his "tariff rebates"

            This guy has managed to convince the GOP that core tenets of socialism are just fine, somehow.

    • Re:They warn about the dangers of Socialism (Score:4, Informative)

      by quantaman ( 517394 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @11:48AM (#65830325)

      ...while demanding the public ownership of the means of production. Can't write parody any more.

      There's a narrative on the right that fascism was a left wing form of government.,

      But the reality is that both fascism and communism were extreme right wing forms of government.

      Fascism openly so, but also communism. Remember what fascism actually cares about, maintaining order, obedience to authority, sacrificing for the glory of the state.

      Communism was supposed to be about equality and the people controlling everything in a bottom up manner. But the moment you implement it on a national scale you end up with a small inner circle, and they either go fascist like the USSR, or a technocratic dictatorship like China.

      There's a reason that when the USSR fell the one narrative you heard was about how much the government lied (because they were far right masquerading as far left). And there's a reason why it was so easy for Russia to go far right under Putin, because they were under far right rule in the USSR.

      So yeah, demanding public ownership is pretty on brand for fascists.

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

        Communism was supposed to be about equality and the people controlling everything in a bottom up manner. But the moment you implement it on a national scale you end up with a small inner circle

        Nobody has ever tried to implement "Communism without a small inner circle" at the national level, and WITH it, it isn't Communism. Maybe there is no such thing as Communism, like there is no such thing as a completely free market, but nobody ever made a good faith effort to have everyone be equal at that level. There's always the plan to ride atop the masses.

      • I also find the similarities striking, but the Horseshoe Theory isn't currently considered accurate by academics. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] I found this 1938 quote from Leon Trotsky enlightening: "To Hitler, liberalism and Marxism are twins because they ignore 'blood and honour'. To a democrat, fascism and Bolshevism are twins because they do not bow before universal suffrage"

    • State ownership is also a feature of fascism. It's coupled to the feature that fascist protect businesses that give them power.

      • Fascism:
        National CEO. Subsidiaries can do whatever they like until they get orders from the top CEO.

        You'd hope people would have enough sense to never elect any businessman. Better to elect a pedophile for the job. Well, now we have both. Too bad he isn't as good at business like he was at being a rapist. At least then he could manage something without bankrupting it.

        • He's a man with a great deal of experience and works with many kinds of people. By "work" I mean he's ripped of so many kinds of people. Construction workers, lawyers, bankers, ... pretty much anyone that tries to deal fairly with Trump will get stung in the end.

          The greatest threat to Trump himself is that fascism is like a drug to people with a narcissistic personality. Can we even blame him for falling into it, it's in his nature to be this way. It was cruel of us to have elected a man that can't handle a

    • Don't forget all the "free market capitalists" that rail against government picking winners being perfectly fine with this government picking winners.

  • That's a shakedown; The USA is a dictatorship ruled by a predatory mafia.

    Good that i had no intention to buy anything intel anyway.

  • How is this different than 2008 (Score:3)

    by spacepimp ( 664856 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @11:51AM (#65830329)

    This has been done before for AIG and General motors. The US Gov't had 60% in GM after 2008 and it then divested those shares at a giant loss. In the great depression the US took stake in banks to prevent collapse. With intel the chips they provide are critical for many government functions. Being reliant on a foreign country to manufacture them cant be counted on or considered safe if used in military functions. If intel was healthy would the government force this on them? That is a very different scenario.

    • I'm not a huge fan of the government owning stakes in private companies either. I'm also not a huge fan of just giving money to private companies without getting anything in return. That said, the article isn't super clear about what this stake entails. If anything like the U.S. Steel deal and if memory serves, the shares were not voting shares like common shares, just equity. There was also a "Golden Ticket" feature to the deal, preventing sale of the company without Administration approval. Possible

      • Yeah this is a case of where the idea isn't so much objectionable but the process in which it came about is corrupt and self serving. As much as we like to kvetch about bureaucracy a lot of it exists for a reason, the way we do things, particularly in government, can be as important as the thing itself.

        If this was a piece of legislation, passed by both houses with all the discussion, negotiation and debate these things are supposed to have then it's not as suspicious. Legislation also carries with it a de

      • I'm not a huge fan of the government owning stakes in private companies either. I'm also not a huge fan of just giving money to private companies without getting anything in return. That said, the article isn't super clear about what this stake entails.

        While the /. headline says "to take equity stake", TFA is silent about whether this is a grant (the original vision of the CHIPS act) or an equity investment (the Trump vision of CHIPS). I didn't find any other news reports which clarified.

        I'm with you though, I'd prefer none of the above.

    • "The US Gov't had 60% in GM after 2008 and it then divested those shares at a giant loss."

      Since the stock price has more than doubled since that stock was sold, should the government have held on to them longer, if profit-making was the only goal?

    • For one thing, the precedent actions were taken with the consent and approval of the Congress.

      But don't worry about THAT little difference...

    • Those were bailouts. This is an investment. The US government has a long and very successful track record of funding the development of computing technology. In this case itâ(TM)s just being done more directly than when it is done by funneling money through NASA or the military.

  • Fuck Intel (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Maybe they should have put $100 Billion into r&d instead of stock buybacks. https://www.calcalistech.com/c... [calcalistech.com]

  • Wait, what? (Score:5, Funny)

    by haggie ( 957598 ) on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @12:12PM (#65830367)

    I thought that tariffs were going to bring chip fab back to the US?

    • Foxconn will build a fab in Wisconsin. They just need a few tax breaks...

    • You see, this is just an extra bit of insurance on top of the tariffs. It'll be like rocket fuel for chip production!

      Not that I advocate using rocket fuel to make microchips. Production processes are toxic enough as it is.

  • Investment into a chip startup. What is that these days, like investing $500 toward someone learning an advanced degree?

  • What part of ... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ... Corruption

    do you not understand?

  • Welfare (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Welfare for the rich and not for the poor

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