According to the Liberty Times and UDN, the White House pushed Apple, NVIDIA and SpaceX toward Intel after Washington took an roughly $8.9 billion, near-10% equity stake in the chipmaker. Deals followed, but Intel's foundry unit lost $10.4 billion over four quarters, and Apple still relies on TSMC for most custom chips.
The White House's dual-track strategy: equity stake and market pressure on Intel
According to UDN, the US government has escalated its backing of Intel, taking roughly a 10% equity stake for about $8.9 billion while actively brokering deals between Intel and potential customers to strengthen America's advanced chipmaking capacity 9. The Wall Street Journal reporting cited by the Liberty Times describes this as the White House having "strong-armed" Apple, NVIDIA and SpaceX — as potential customers and partners — to adopt Intel's chips and manufacturing services, aiming to gradually improve the legacy chipmaker's business 2. UDN separately reports that the Trump administration went "all out" to support Intel, pressuring Apple, NVIDIA and SpaceX to adopt Intel's foundry services to produce their chips 8.
Deals and commitments signed with Apple, NVIDIA and SpaceX
According to the Liberty Times, since the government's stake announcement, Apple, NVIDIA and SpaceX have all signed cooperation agreements with Intel 1. UDN reports that President Trump personally announced Apple would work with Intel on chip design and production within the United States, framing Intel as a key policy tool for rebuilding the US semiconductor supply chain 10. The NVIDIA relationship predates the equity stake: UDN notes NVIDIA became an Intel shareholder last September, with the two companies agreeing to jointly develop multiple generations of custom data-center and PC products, including Intel building a custom x86 CPU for NVIDIA's data-center lineup 12.
Intel's core problem: foundry losses and lagging process competitiveness
Despite the political backing, the underlying business remains under strain. The Liberty Times reports that Intel's foundry business accumulated $10.4 billion in losses over the past four fiscal quarters, leaving the division facing heavy operational and financial pressure 4. UDN reports that Intel has pushed process development forward — its 18A-P process, the first performance-enhanced version of the 18A family, has entered risk production — but the foundry business has still not turned profitable 13.
New CEO Lip-Bu Tan's response: reform pledges and frequent government contact
According to the Liberty Times, Lip-Bu Tan took over as Intel CEO in March 2025 and pledged to cut spending, revitalize the product lineup, and win marquee customers for the foundry business 5. The same report says Tan travels to Washington roughly once a month, meeting with Commerce Department officials and regularly briefing Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on customer relationships and business conditions 6.
Mixed assessments: rising confidence alongside political-risk warnings
Experts are split. Jacob Feldgoise, a senior research analyst at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, told the Liberty Times that from a technical standpoint Intel appears to be gaining credibility and confidence, with each new customer commitment and each new manufacturing-process release sending an increasingly positive signal 7. By contrast, Scott Lincicome, a trade and industrial-policy lawyer at the Cato Institute, warned that the Trump administration's forceful intervention in deals between Apple, NVIDIA and other companies and Intel could set a bad precedent — particularly since Intel has not yet fixed its foundry business 3.
Can Intel really replace TSMC? Customer supply-chain reliance remains a hurdle
The deals do not erase existing dependencies. UDN, citing sources familiar with the matter via The Wall Street Journal, reports that Apple is interested in having Intel produce laptop- and iPhone-related chips, but Apple will still rely on TSMC (台積電) to produce the bulk of its custom chips 11. Separately, UDN notes TSMC was set to hold its earnings call on July 16 and was in its pre-earnings quiet period, with analysts expecting geopolitical issues to remain a focal point of that call 14.
Key figures at a glance
| Metric | Value | Source |
|---|
| US government equity stake in Intel | ~$8.9 billion (~10% equity) | UDN 9 |
| Intel foundry losses, last 4 fiscal quarters | $10.4 billion | Liberty Times 4 |
| Lip-Bu Tan's Washington visit frequency | ~once a month | Liberty Times 6 |
| Lip-Bu Tan's CEO start date | March 2025 | Liberty Times 5 |
| NVIDIA became Intel shareholder | September (prior year) | UDN 12 |
| TSMC Q2 earnings call date | July 16 | UDN 14 |
What this means
The numbers point to a gap between political leverage and business reality. Washington's ~$8.9 billion, near-10% stake and its pressure campaign (E9, E2, E8) have produced signed agreements with Apple, NVIDIA and SpaceX (E1, E10, E12) and won praise from a Georgetown analyst for improving signals 7. Yet Intel's foundry unit still posted $10.4 billion in losses over four quarters and has not turned profitable even as its newest process enters risk production (E4, E13), and Apple's own arrangement leaves TSMC as the producer of most of its custom chips 11. Set against Cato's Scott Lincicome's warning that forcing these deals while Intel's foundry business remains unfixed could set a bad precedent 3, the evidence shows political commitments have outpaced the financial turnaround at the center of them.